History

The anti-epidemic gift packs sent to our members in 2020 demonstrated our commitment to care and solidarity during a time of global uncertainty.

HATA Spring Dinner 2019 was successfully held on 04 March 2019 at the Club Panda, Ocean Park, with 170 guests and members participating in the event.

Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents has successfully held our 46th Annual Overseas Convention, in a longhaul destination, in Sydney, Australia 25-27 October 2019.

With the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indonesia and the Garuda Indonesia, a familiarization tour to Bali was successfully held between 15-19 May, 2018. A group of 18 HATA members had a great time and experienced various tourism spots in Bali.

To celebrate Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents 60th Anniversary, the Diamond Jubilee Committee organized a gala event between 2-3 Nov. More than 400 members and friends across the travel industry got together and witnessed this significant milestone of HATA.

Members-get-together event was held on 15 Dec 2016 at the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) to celebrate the joyful occasion of Christmas. Over 130 members had the opportunity to connect and chat with each other over delicious food and wine pairings.

In support of the Government’s initiatives to promote cruise travel and multi-destination travel, HATA Convention Committee held this year’s convention on a cruise-ship making her home-port sailing from Hong Kong to Taiwan. During the convention, participants strengthened the knowledge of diversified cruise products.


During the 42nd HATA Annual Overseas Convention, HATA and Tainan Association of Travel Agent (TATA) signed a MOU which was witnessed by Mr Liu Chien-sin, Tainan City Government Deputy Secretary-General, and Mr. Kevin Lai, Deputy Director (Culture and Strategic Development) of the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office (HKETCO). The MOU aims to strengthen the tourism interaction and cooperation between Hong Kong and Tainan in the domain of destination promotion and to organize delegation for travel trade representatives.

In line with the rising trend of cruise travel and the commissioning of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal (KTCT), HATA Cruise Committee organized a Travel and Cruise Mart at the BP International House. Sellers, including some international cruise lines, great attractions, world-class hotels, professional transportation services as well as 200 trade members participated in the Mart.

The Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents (HATA) celebrated its 55th Anniversary in 2012. A poolside BBQ Dinner was held at the United Services Recreation Club (USRC).

HATA annual overseas conventions play an important part of our continuing and increasing efforts to bring about change for the better in our industry. Apart from our members and trade partners, we opened our convention to students for the first time in the event’s 38-year history. More than 20 tourism students from four allied educational institutions took this opportunity to join in the convention’s discussion and networked with industry partners.

The Association announced to establish a “Travel & Tourism Academy” in collaboration with our two Allied Members. Hong Kong College of Technology (HKCT) offers Professional Diploma and Professional Certificate in Marketing and Tourism programmes, and School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University offers Bachelor of Arts in Travel Industry Management programme. The main objective of the collaboration is to enhance competitive power and self competence to our full time travel practitioners with professional work place experience, who are exploring and seeking part-time study opportunity in tourism management to further career prospects and industry recognition by both the industry and general public.

The Association had a great occasion for an important milestone in our history to reach an agreement with the Tourism Commission to organize a series of enterprising seminars and workshops for the travel agency community from November 2008 to June 2009. The objective of these professional development programs – Quality Service Beyond Expectations was to enhance quality service delivery skills and competencies to reinforce Hong Kong’s image as Asia’s World City and one of the world’s foremost visitors’ destination.

2007 marked the 50th anniversary of HATA with a series of celebration events launched, including the HATA’s Golden Jubilee Dinner, the first ever membership cards and the 50th Anniversary publication. The 35th HATA Annual Overseas Convention was held in Macau where the first overseas convention was held 35 years ago. The Executive Committee continues its presence at the world conferences, such as “15th Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meeting Asia” and the “10th Corporate Travel World”, bringing the brand of HATA to the world recognition. The “14-day 100% Refund Guarantee Scheme” for shoppers on inbound tour groups at registered shops is implemented with the aim of improving self-regulatory measures among members.

The rise in cost of fuels has created lots of problems in the outbound sector for ticketing agents and tour agents. Various meetings were held to resolve the damage and the collected opinion from members were reflected to TIC for appropriate action. The Annual Overseas convention was held in Hangzhou and keynote speakers are invited to share their ideas on the theme of “Are We Ready to Capitalize on China’s Tourism Growth?” To pave the way of making HATA be a global brand, the Committee began to involve in international conference, such as PATA Conference in Pattaya and the PATA Travel Mart held in Hong Kong.

The annual HATA overseas convention took place in Kuala Lumpur with the theme “Overcoming Challenges through Partnerships”. Attended by the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents as well as members from the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, the event was advanced to be a regional affair. To support the SME Mentorship Program launched by Trade and Industry Department, some executive committee members have become mentors to provide free counseling on one to one basis.

With the substantial growth of China inbound business, a China and Inbound Working Group was formed with different travel-related associations and business partners. Visa free status was granted by the Japanese government to SAR passport holders from 1st April 2004, a meaningful growth of outbound tours was expected. The Annual Overseas Convention was held in Hanoi this year with the theme “Surviving in the low cost environment” to discuss the impact of low cost carriers to the travel industry. HATA and the International Cruise Council of Australasia (ICCA) joined hands to establish an international accreditation for training programs of selling cruise.

1997 is the 40th anniversary since the founding of HATA. Membership now stands at 350.

HATA went to Paris to celebrate 25 years of organizing overseas convention. HATA wanted this convention to be talked about for years to come and this was achieved as even today it is still the most talked about convention ever. HATA goes on the Internet. The HATA web site is launched.

1993 saw HATA taking its annual overseas convention on board a cruise ship for the first time traveling from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
The 90’s saw HATA forging a closer working relationship with China by organising a number of fact-finding trips. Places visited included the Pearl River Delta, Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guilin, Yangtze River and Suzhou. Study tours were also organised to Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan and India.

1972 HATA holding its first overseas annual convention. Issues in the 70’s included traffic problems in Hong Kong, inaccessibility of tour groups to Lok Ma Chau – a vantage border lookout point where visitors came to look into China, etc.

In late 1954, the idea to form an association was first conceived by Hong Kong IATA agents. Three years later, in 1957, the Hong Kong Association Travel Agents was finally formed