The Hong Kong Tourism Board appointed Katch International to handle public relations, social media, branding, and experiential communications across the Middle East, ending what sources familiar with the matter describe as three years of project-based media buying with no fixed regional communications partner.
The mandate covers the six Gulf Cooperation Council markets—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman—and marks the first time HKTB's Middle East office has consolidated PR, social, and experiential work under a single integrated agency. Katch operates offices in Dubai, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi. The scope includes trade and consumer campaigns, influencer programs, and on-ground activations tied to Hong Kong's post-pandemic positioning as a regional hub for luxury retail, art fairs, and extended-stay business travel. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The appointment arrives as Hong Kong faces a 36 percent year-on-year decline in Mainland Chinese visitor arrivals through Q1 2025, according to HKTB's own monthly visitor statistics, and a parallel 22 percent drop in overnight luxury-hotel occupancy across Kowloon and Central districts. The territory has pivoted aggressively toward long-haul feeder markets, with the Middle East now accounting for roughly 180,000 visitor arrivals annually, a 41 percent increase since 2019. GCC nationals, particularly from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, spend an average of HK$12,400 per trip—nearly double the system-wide average—and skew heavily toward jewelry, watches, and private dining experiences in neighborhoods like Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui.
Katch International's win reflects a broader industry shift. Regional tourism boards are moving away from short-cycle media buys toward sustained narrative-building that aligns with sovereign wealth fund hospitality investments, airline capacity expansions, and the rise of ultra-high-net-worth family travel from Riyadh and Doha. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund holds stakes in multiple Hong Kong luxury retail real estate assets, and Emirates added a fourth daily Hong Kong-Dubai flight in February. HKTB's decision to bundle social, experiential, and trade PR under one roof allows Katch to build integrated campaigns around Art Basel Hong Kong in March, the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival in October, and private viewings at auction houses like Sotheby's and Phillips, which have relocated senior specialists to the territory.
Operators should watch three follow-on signals in the next 90 to 120 days. First, whether Katch launches a dedicated Arabic-language content stream on HKTB's social channels, which would indicate serious investment in direct-to-consumer messaging rather than trade-only outreach. Second, any partnership announcements between HKTB and Saudi or Emirati luxury hospitality developers—several are quietly scouting Hong Kong sites for branded residences. Third, changes to Hong Kong's visa-on-arrival policy for GCC nationals, which currently allows 14-day stays; an extension to 30 days would signal the government is backing HKTB's long-haul tourism strategy with regulatory support.
Katch held the Dubai Tourism account from 2018 through late 2023 and currently manages regional PR for Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Minor Hotels, and the Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation, giving it direct access to the same ultra-high-net-worth traveler cohort Hong Kong is now courting.
The takeaway
HKTB's first integrated Middle East agency play reflects Hong Kong's pivot to high-spending GCC travelers as Mainland arrivals stall.
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