Developed by PolyU’s Public Policy Research Institute and
School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM), a web-based tourism demand forecasting
system was officially launched on 4 March 2008.
Speaking at the launch, SHTM Director Professor Kaye Chon said that with the
help of the system, tourism practitioners could obtain first-hand information
on future tourism trends, which would be beneficial to business development
and policy making. He noted that innovative projects like this are “one of
the reasons why the School is rated highly”.
The sophisticated system forecasts tourism-related demand in terms of tourist
arrival and departure, expenditure by sectors and hotel room nights for up
to 10 years. The forecast figures are available for 10 major source countries
and regions, and for room nights by type of tariff. Potential subscribers are
entitled to a three-month free trial during which they can have access to the
forecasts on quarterly tourist arrivals in Hong Kong. Full subscribers will
be able to access all information available in the system, including four quarterly
reports, and generate different scenario analyses based on their own estimation
of the economic growth rate and fluctuation in currency exchange rates. For
further details, please visit www.TourismForecasting.net.
