Doraemon exhibition drives tourism boom

Adelyn Lau

Over five million people were drawn to the "100% DORAEMON & FRIENDS" exhibition in Tsim Sha Tsui as the exhibition's free entry zone closed yesterday, the organizer said.

Hours before the display opened at 10am yesterday, organizer AllRightsReserved prepared five mascots - Doraemon, Nobi Nobita, Minamoto Shizuka, Honekawa Suneo and Gouda Takeshi - to bid fans goodbye at meet-and-greet sessions at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm.

Fans can still catch the ticketed exhibition on the sixth floor of K11 Musea until Sunday. Tickets will be on sale on booking platform Klook from 6pm today.

Die-hard fans said the 12-year wait for the exhibition to return to Hong Kong was well worth it. The iconic characters from Japanese manga writing duo Fujiko Fujio were last seen at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui in 2012.

The popular display of the life-sized characters opened at the Avenue of Stars on July 13.

AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam said the average spend per exhibition visitor was around HK$1,000.

Gianna Hsu Wong Mei-lun, chairwoman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said 6,450 mainland inbound tour groups arrived in July, vastly topping the record this year.

She believed the Doraemon exhibition has contributed to the increase.

Hsu said more than 1,000 mainland inbound tour registrations were received from August 1 to 4, and all the groups included visits to the Avenue of Stars.

Government-led mega events in sports and culture, such as the annual book fair and Ani-Com and Games, alongside the one-month Doraemon exhibitions, drove the momentum, she said.

"Any nighttime events held along Victoria Harbour can stimulate the surrounding economy and foot traffic," Hsu said.

Meanwhile, K11 Musea recorded a new single-day record in foot traffic for the year - a nearly 40 percent surge that also boosted food and beverage as well as retail sales by nearly 30 percent, with tourist sales going up 10 percent.

"The food and beverage tenants, fashion and sports-related businesses benefited from this exhibition, as each art and culture event held is coordinated with mall tenants to capitalize on foot traffic, driving sales for them," said Horace Lam Ho-chit, senior vice president and regional site-in-charge of K11 Concepts.

Gaia Group, which owns nearly 20 dining establishments in Tsim Sha Tsui, saw the turnover of its K11 restaurants jump 30 percent in the past month, according to the group's general manager of business development and operations Janice Mak Wing-yan. She said the group enjoyed a stable flow of customers as many chose to dine and shop at the mall after seeing the Doraemon exhibition, with an average spend of HK$100 to HK$500 per person.

adelyn.lau@singtaonewscorp.com