MAM
HKTB brands 2006 as ‘Discover Hong Kong’ year
MUMBAI: The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) expects visitor arrivals to reach 27.14 million in 2006, mainly led by the launch of Disneyland and Hong Kong Wetland Park. At the same time, the total tourism expenditure will exceed the HK$100 billion mark to reach HK$114.7 billion
Therefore HKTB haspledged that it will make good use of the additional tourism funding proposed by the Financial Secretary. Out of the HK$500 million additional funding, HK$470 million will be used by the HKTB to implement the 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year campaign. It will also look to further develop the family and business traveller segments, including young executives; and strengthen the promotion of the Quality Tourism Services (QTS) scheme.
HKTB has stated that promotional activities for the Discover Hong Kong Year will start from the second half of the year. The HKTB has decided to stage this new international marketing campaign in 2006 because it represents a critical milestone in the history of Hong Kong’s tourism. With several new infrastructure projects, including Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong Wetland Park and Tung Chung Cable Car coming on stream, 2006 presents a great opportunity for Hong Kong to take centre stage in the international publicity arena. The HKTB will package these new attractions with Hong Kong’s existing unique products to present an array of diverse, multi-dimensional offerings that satisfy visitors from different markets and segments.
The Discover Hong Kong Year campaign looks to capitalise on the strong interest in Asia and China in the global tourism market. In organising Discover Hong Kong Year, the HKTB’s major short-term objective is to drive incremental visitor arrivals and spending, making Hong Kong the hottest, “must-visit” destination on any Asia and China itinerary. As for the long term, the Board wants to reinforce Hong Kong’s leading position in the international travel market, making it a timeless, continuously rejuvenating destination.
HKTB states that its 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year campaign is expected to bring 1.2 million visitors and 2 million visitor nights additional to the HKTB’s original growth forecast. It will also help generate an additional HK$10 billion tourism spending, meaning that for every dollar of the Government’s investment, the HKTB will achieve 20 in return.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
