Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival 2020 reached an astounding global online audience

Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival 2020

With a full table of gastronomic experiences for global audience, the first “online + offline” 2020 Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival officially concluded.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) adopted the online + offline format to ensure that the public could take part without having to worry about the COVID-19 outbreak, and the festival was an enormous success.

Online Masterclasses viewed around 850,000 times

The Online Masterclasses – a new “ingredient” of this year’s Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival – became a go-to program at home for local and international audience. The HKTB organized a total of 34 classes which generated almost 850,000 views.

The most popular Online Masterclasses included the Ah Yat Fried Rice cooking demonstration by Forum Restaurant’s Executive Chef Adam Wong; the craft beer and artisan cheese pairing class by Young Master Brewery and Monsieur CHATTÉ; and Art of Blending: When Johnnie Walker Meets Coffee by world-class mixologist Antonio Lai and professional coffee barista Timmy Lam.  

The cooking demonstration in which Forum Restaurant’s Executive Chef Adam Wong revealed the secrets to making the perfect “Ah Yat Fried Rice” became the most popular of the Online Masterclasses.

Though all the Online Masterclasses have ended, the full videos are still available for free viewing on the event website.

Many of the Online Masterclasses featured wine-tasting and cooking kits for purchase, allowing the participants to share the full experience with wine experts and celebrity chefs during the online classes. In particular, the tasting kits for “A Date with the Snow Goddess Yukimegami”, hosted by Sake Service Institute of Japan-certified sake sommelier Jamie Lo, were sold out in a short time.

“It was a new experience to give a tasting class over the computer screen. The interaction with the participants also made the experience more fun,” said Lo. “The class was priced lower than its cost to attract participation, and it was encouraging to know that the tasting kit was popular.”

Well received takeaway/delivery menus and dining offers

The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival 2020 continued to bring opportunities for wine merchants and the dining sector to promote their products and do businesses. The HKTB collaborated with several top hotels and popular restaurants to present 30 menus for delivery or takeaway, some of which were exclusive to the Festival.

The menus include a special afternoon tea set designed by Grand Hyatt Hong Kong.

“The limited-time-only afternoon tea set was selling better than we expected,” said the hotel’s Director of Marketing Communications, Eva Kwok. “Though Hong Kong people are eating out less these days, they are still drawn by exquisite food.”

During the Festival, the HKTB also partnered with various dining platforms and associations to roll out all kinds of offers at over 500 dining outlets.

“Through the HKTB’s promotional platform, many of our participating restaurants achieved more reservations than expected and reached new customer segments,” said Ryan So, Director of Business Development Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong of Dining City, one of the Festival’s partner platforms.

Promoting Hong Kong’s local dining culture

Leveraging the Festival, the HKTB conducted promotions in the visitor source markets with a focus on enhancing Hong Kong’s image as a culinary capital. It arranged a series of online wine-and-dine activities for nearly 100 journalists from the long- and short-haul markets.

The activities include previews of the Online Masterclasses, a virtual dining culture guided tour, and interviews and interaction with well-known Hong Kong chefs and wine critics.

Hong Kong celebrity chef Christian Yang led an online foodie tour to promote Hong Kong’s local dining culture to overseas media.

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