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Based on the Geolocation Signals from Hotmob Datahub, it was identified that there was a 56% increase in overall cross border foot traffic from Jan to early Feb 2023 compared to Nov to Dec 2022. In particular there was a sudden hike in traffic (as indicated by the red line) at the Hong Kong International Airport when other Asia regions also lifted border restrictions. 

At the same time, Geolocation Signals indicated that the foot traffic volume of most Hong Kong border crossings had increased over time. For instance, the border traffic at “Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge Station” and “Express Rail Link West Kowloon” in Jan 2023 experienced a significant increase compared to 2022. Such active traffic suggested that retailers and hospitality businesses could make use of geographic data in online campaigns to drive brand awareness and customer engagement.

*This visual shows the audience who appeared at the selected cross border ports and their reading trendline in between Jan to early Feb 2023.

Meanwhile, it is observed with this group of audience’s reading behaviours, they tended to perform searches for travelling and cross border information mostly in the weekends prior to making their way to the border crossings. In particular a huge increase in search for China cross border information was found between mid and late Jan 2023, which was likely due to the announcement of reopening the borders between Hong Kong and mainland China on 8 Jan 2023. It is assumed that this group of audience was planning to either travel or return to the mainland for family visits or Chinese Lunar Year gatherings.

Keywords Search for Cross Border Travelling Information

By breaking down the audience further into different personas, it can be identified that most audiences who searched for or read “Cross Border Travelling” contents are mainly foreign travellers, who are categorised under persona “International Travel Planning”. Moreover, this persona also has intentions to read about “Local Travel Planning” contents, which potentially suggests that they are likely extroverts and enjoy travelling whether it is locally or overseas.

Meanwhile, Macau also experienced a huge increase in search for “Macau Cross Border” information after the government announced reopening its border on 6 Feb 2023. Looking into the URLs and contents, most of the audiences were interested in “金巴” and “Buy One Get One Free Ticket Promotion - Ferry / Shuttle Bus”. 

It is interesting to note that most of the audiences not only searched for “Macau Ferry” related content but also interested in new transportation methods to Macau, especially shuttle bus and related keywords such as 金巴/ 港珠澳大橋.

Reference Articles:

As the Taiwanese government also recently announced to reopen for Hong Kong and Macau visitors to enter Taiwan. Therefore, Hotmob Datahub also prepared an overview of the latest hot keyword search about Taiwan with the “Keyword Extraction” analytic tool to better understand foreign visitors' preferences.

Since the “Keyword Extraction” analysis was generated in late Feb 2023, most audiences have not yet performed heavy searches for Taiwanese travelling information. However, it is found that Hong Kong residents have also been searching for Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan when looking up overseas travelling information, hence it can be assumed that they might be interested in travelling to other countries or territories too such as Taiwan. Some audiences searched for “Hotel” and “Flight Ticket” to Taiwan, while some looked for promotions and special offerings. 

Insights for Marketers

Marketers can take advantage of geographical data like Geolocation Signals and Keyword Extraction to identify insights for planning campaigns and formulating geo-targeting campaigns to increase reach. Don’t have a clue on what to explore? 

Talk to one of our representatives and we show you what Hotmob Datahub has to offer.