Ngong Ping 360 - Turning adversity into opportunity

Since its inception in 2006, Ngong Ping 360, Asia’s longest bi-cable ropeway, has been a popular tourist attraction for many international travellers. In its 15 years of service, overseas tourists have been the company’s major customer base. However, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 severely impacted the tourism industry. Therefore, Ngong Ping 360 has refined its business strategy to focus more on organising events for local tourists.

Ngong Ping 360 has received more than 30 international and local recognition and awards in 2021. 10 of these awards were from MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Marketing Events Awards Hong Kong 2021. Ngong Ping 360 won two gold awards for Best Event Team and Best Event – Creative categories; five silver awards for Best Audience Growth Event, Best Event – Health and Fitness, Best Pop-Up Event, Best Sponsorship/Partnership Event, and Best Use of Multi-Channel; and three bronze awards for Best Event – Public Awareness, Best Launch/Rebranding Event and Best Result-Driven Event categories.

In our events to attract local tourists comprising families with kids and youngsters, Ngong Ping 360 has implemented key attractions, such as eye-catching decorations for photo-taking and activities for audience engagement and participation, in partnership with renowned brands to expand the consumer base.For instance, in summer 2019, Ngong Ping 360, in partnership with the renowned young sports brand FILA, organised the “360 FILA Fest”, which included magnificent decorations and sport-related games. This marked the first time that the company collaborated with another brand under the pandemic to organise a campaign to expand their consumer base and foster their brand popularity with the younger generation.
Easter holidays have always been an important time for families to enjoy quality time together. During Easter this year, Ngong Ping 360 collaborated with Hang Heung Old Cake Shop to organise the “NP360 × Hang Heung 100 Eggs-plore 360” event. The event included decorations the recreated scenes from old Hong Kong for parents, as well as egg hunting games for children. This collaborative event was immensely successful. 
During the Olympic games, our company collaborated with the summer sports drink brand Pocari Sweat to organise another successful event – “360 Sweatival Sports Gala” – that attracted young people. By utilising popular talents for social media promotion, the event created positive engagement and excitement among the youngsters. These successful events have demonstrated how cross-sector partnerships can create synergy and benefit the brands involved.

For this year's Christmas, Ngong Ping 360 is partnering with Italian chocolate brand Venchi to organise a festive Christmas event for families. We are confident that this event will also enhance the brands’ popularity.
Creativity and novelty in events are key to attracting local visitors. Our company partnered with international fashion designer Vivienne Tam to organise the world’s first-ever virtual fashion show in October 2021. For this event, Ngong Ping Cable Car, Ngong Ping Village and Wisdom Path were turned into a “runway” for global travellers to rediscover the unique beauty of Hong Kong.

Although the past events have delivered desirable results, the company will continue to refine and innovate business strategies to cope with the dynamic changes in visitors’ preferences. This would ensure the continuous development of the company’s tourism business and that Hong Kong remains a world-class tourist attraction for both local and international travellers.

This article is contributed by Ngong Ping 360.