Go! Travel: 2010

Behind the Tour - Things that we considered during our planning stage

Concerns
There are 4 concerns when planning our tour, they are:
A. Safety
B. Tiredness
C. Sickness
D. Getting lost

Therefore, in our tour, we will:
a. Reduce the tour guide to customer ratio
b. Choose close locations, Allow sufficient time gap
c. Suggest customers to bring their own medicine
d. Remind tour guide should bring along the contact list

Profit
Cost for Customers and Provider(each):
Food:$30
Transportation fee :$2
Insurance fee:$10
------------------------------------------
Total cost: $42

As the price of the tour are $150 and $100
$58-$108 profit are expected

Marketing Strategy
1. Promotion video on Youtube and Facebook
2. Blog: http://gogogotravel.blogspot.com
3. Leaflets
we will make good use of e-marketing us it allow as to reach numerous costomers at a very low cost. Besides, we have prepared leaflets for costomers that are not familiar with Youtube and Facebook

Description of Each Spot

Wan Chai Ferry Pier

We first met at the Wan Chai Ferry Pier which is located next to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Wan Chai Ferry Pier is operated solely by the Star Ferry. From the Wan Chai Ferry Pier, we can go to either Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui or Whampoa Garden in Hung Hom. It is a wonderful experience to walk along the waterfront as we can overlook the Kowloon Peninsula and the beautiful scenery along Victoria Harbor. Are you ready? Let's go to the next destination!

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

Walking along the waterfront, we reached our second destination, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The HKCEC is one of the two major convention and exhibition venues in Hong Kong. Every year, it hosts
more than 45 international trade fairs for buyers from more than 100 countries. It also is a landmark in Hongkong with its bird-like rooftop. But others may say rather than a bird, it more likes a turtle crawling toward the Victoria Harbour. How about you? What does the HKCEC like?

The Golden Bauhinia Square

Outside the HKCEC is a 6-meter height Giant statue of a golden Bauhinia.
The golden Bauhinia is so meaningful as it is a gift from the Central Government which marks the return of the former British colony to the People's Republic of China, and the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(HKSAR). Also the bauhinia is the representative flower of the HKSAR as it grows so easily in this territory.

Walk along Tai Yuen Street ( Toy Street)

Our next destination is Tai Yuen Street. We often call it as "Toy Street". It is a paradise for people who love toys, especially those old toys. Toys here are normally sold at a relatively low price and you can see in the photo that we can find a variety of toys there. If you are lucky enough, you may find some limited edition figures and old toys that can not be found anywhere else!

Lunch (Cart Noodle)

Yummy Yummy! We went to a famous Cart Noodle Shop in Wan Chai! The shop become popular since 1950s. Do you know what is Cart Noodle? It is the kind of noodles the hawker sells in a cart. Normally after the order is taken, your noodle can be made within 1 minute. What ingredient does it include? Totally depends on you, you can choose urdled Pig's blood, Pig intestine, Chinese radish, Chicken Wing, fish ball, vegetables...

Blue House

Then, we moved on to the blue house, which is just next to the cart noodle shop. We all think that this is a lovely architecture and like it so much. We took a lot of photos there. This historical building reminds local people of their past lives as a living museum. On the ground floor if the Wan Chai Livelihood Place operated by St. James Settlement, which is open to public free of charge. It holds exhibitions regularly and displays many items from the past. That was so interesting! We spend plenty of time examining them and thought we were brought to the past.

The Old Post Office

After visiting the blue house, we came to another old building, the old post office. As we went inside the building, we found that the counter, letterbox and the stamp vending machine is still being kept. At the other corner, there are quite of educational facilities. For example, the ‘Rechargeable Battery Recycling Programme’ collection point is for us to return rechargeable batteries for recycling. Moreover, there are lots of informational leaflets and interactive computer games to raise our interest in protecting the environment. We were attracted by the facilities there.

Hopewell Centre

After visiting two historical building, we went to Hopewell Centre. We were curious what is so special and famous about this commercial building. So we entered it and travelled on the scenic elevator. The lift went up and up and suddenly we saw a view of Hong Kong Island. That was so fabulous! With the blue sky, tall skyscrapers, random birds, what a beautiful picture it is! The view is so attractive that we are sure all of you would like to have a taste of it.

Hung Shing Temple

Our next destination is Hung Shing Temple. It looks funny as this traditional building is surrounded by modern commercial and residential buildings. The smoke from burning incense made the feeling in this piece of land more ancient and mysterious from the others. When we took a closer look, the decorations on the rooftop, cornerstone and platform are detailed and fine. It is lucky that this temple of over 150 years’ history is kept till now.

Tai Cheong Bakery

It's time to have some rest and some snacks. We will visit one of the most famous Bakery shops in Hong Kong, the Tai Cheong Bakery. If you ask what is the must-try-item in the shop, almost every Hong Konger will have the same anwser: the egg tart! Egg tart can most represent Hong Kong and you can find them nearly in every bakery shop. Even Chris Patten, the last British governor of HK, loves the egg tart sold at this shop. He described the egg tart as "The best egg tart in Hong Kong". He loves the egg tart so much that it has become a piece of news. Therefore, the egg tart also named Fat Patten's Egg Tart (肥鵬蛋撻).

Woo Cheong Pawn Shop

After having such delicious and enjoyable snack, it is time to have sightseeing at the historical building: Woo Cheong Pawn Shop. The building contains a mix of Western and Eastern Building structure. It is built in 1888 and renovated in 2007. Do you know how we can trade in pawn shop? Actually it is very easy. What you have to do is to bring along the materials that you want to trade, then give the things to the shopowner and he will decide and lent you the amount of money that is worth of. The pawn shop is still operating so if any of you are lacking money, you may consider going to Woo Cheong Pawn Shop.

Tram travel

Our next destination will be Causeway Bay. We will go to Causeway Bay by tram. Tram is often called "din din", because it make the sound when it passes by. It is one of the oldest transportation in HK as it is operated since 1904. Tram can only be found on Hong Kong Island. It is the major transportation for the resident. It is an only operating double-decker tram system in the world. Besides, it is cheap and environmental-friendly, it is also very worth trying because you can enjoy the street view while you are riding on the tram, and it only cost you $2 for each ride.

Villain Hitting

It will take about 15 minutes to travel to Causeway Bay. We will get off at Canal Road, which is also called Goose Neck Bridge (鵝頸橋) because there was river that look like the neck of a goose and the bridge there is the landmark of the area. The interesting part of it is the special tradition Villain hitting. A Villain hitter will hit a villain paper using client's shoe or other symbolic w. At the same time, she will spell some curse like 打你個小人頭打到你有氣冇得抖打你隻小人手打到你有野唔識偷. Although there are some curse, people usually go there to ask for blessing, but not to harm others.

Times Square

Time flies and it is now the last destination of our trip. We will now walk to the largest shopping mall in Causeway Bay - the Times Square. Inside the Times Square, there are 230 shops and 20 restaurants. It is a Shopping and dining landmark in Hong Kong. There are 4 unique spinal escalators inside the mall and a giant TV on the wall of the building. The giant TV is a very popular meeting place in Hong Kong because it is very easy to recognize it. Our tour will end here and tourists can enjoy their free shopping time in Times Square.

So, what are you wait for ?

Come and Join Us NOW !!

Our Second Tour- “Explore Wan Chai”

Our company is organizing a tour to Wan Chai. Here are the details:

“Explore Wan Chai”

Theme
1. Historical value of Wan Chai
2. Rich cultural heritage and traditions
3. Unique and harmonious blend of old traditions and new developments

Target Customers
Foreigners and Families

Size
About 16 people, including 1 tour guide

Time Management:
Assembly time: 10:00 a.m.
Dismissal time: 17:00 p.m.
Duration:7hours
Lunch hour: 12:10 p.m.
Lunch duration: 1 hour
5-mins buffer between tourist spots

Price
Adult: $150
Children: $100
Seniors: $100

* One lunch is included
* Transportation fees are included

Our Itinerary
10:00 　 Assembly at Wan Chai Ferry Pier
10:15-11:00 Sightseeing at The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and

Our first tour- Sheung Wan Trip

In early November, our company had organised our first one day tour, a trip to Sheung Wan.
Here are some of the highlights of the day. Hope you enjoy it.

Our destination is the Dried Seafood Street in Sheung Wan.

As we walked along the street, we could see a large variety of dried seafood. Examples include sea cucumbers, abalones and scallops.

They are some dried squids

Here are different kinds of sea cucumbers

During the trip, we tried to introduce the different kinds of dried seafood to the members of the tour.

Tracy is comparing the sizes of different shark fin.

Tommy is explaining the use of fish maw.

Besides looking at the dried seafood, we can actually touch them to feel the different textures.

The entire tour lasted for two hours. And we ended our trip by taking the group photo.

     After all, we all agreed that we had a lot of fun during this trip. It is a very exciting experience that we designed a tour from planning the route to turning it into a real tour by leading a group of people. It is not an easy task. We had to admit that we did face some challenges when leading the trip.
     Firstly, it is a pity that it was raining on the day of our trip, so that some shops did not display much of their dried seafood outside their shops. Therefore, we have learnt that we should consider the weather condition when planning a trip. It is possible that we consider postponing the tour if the same situation happens again in the future.
     Secondly, we were sometimes asked about questions that we did not know as we were not experts of dried seafood. For example, we were asked about the difference in qualities of the sea cucumbers from different countries. Luckily, we were able to find out the answers from the help of the shop owners. From this, we have learnt the importance of preparation beforehand. To improve, we would be more well-prepared before we lead a tour.
     Moreover, shops have different opening hours. At the time of our trip, there were shops that remained closed. Besides, we met some unfriendly shop owners who did not allow us to stay long inside the shops. To improve, we will talk to shop owners before our tour and seek for their co-operations in the future.
     To conclude, the trip to Sheung Wan is a very memorable experience for the five of us. We learnt a lot from it and this is a very helpful experience for us to design better future trips. We look forward to seeing you soon.