Session 19 (May 30th)

May 27th E-mail response from scanned ideas of website

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Dear Irwin,

I have recently viewed your design briefs and you have a very clear understanding of what you are going to do while constructing the website. You should add some background images to your pages to make it more artistic. You should also visit other tourism sites to gather more ideas, as your ideas are too simple and are very similar to the design of the HK tourism website. Since you are a HK citizen, you should also include your own personal routes for sightseeing within HK, just to gibe people another perspective of viewing HK! Attractions shouldn't only be the typical Victoria Harbor or the Ngong Ping 360, you could take the tourists to places which interest you, as a HK citizen, you should know best!

Your site layouts are very thorough, just spice it up with decorative implements, and if you have the ability, y u could add some flashes into your website!

Best Regards,

Lai Ting Fung

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Session 18 (14th May)

Client Interview:

Mr. Lai Ting Fung (I.T. Programmer of HK Tourism Board)

May 10th - e-mail conversation

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Dear Mr. Lai,

I am a student of West Island School, and I am wishing for some help on my oncoming project of a tourism based website for Hong Kong. I have been browsing through the HK tourism website and I have been very pleased with the amount of detail. I would like to know what information I may need to include on my website, and I would most likely be using Adobe Dreamweaver to build my website.

Sincerely,

Irwin Chan

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Dear. Irwin,

I am glad you have an interest to promote HK tourism to international customers. I have recently been receiving e-mails like yours which consist of questions on making a website for tourism, and one thing I must ensure you must not do is copy text from other websites with copyright claims. You can most certainly be punished if you do so, and if you do want to use information from other sites, you must seek permission of the owner of that site. Putting information into your own words are fine, but they must be in your own words!

Adobe Dreamweaver is a very thorough and great software for building websites, but may be quite difficult to use, I suggest you looking for tutorials online foe help. The website must contain detailed information, such as accommodation, food, transportation. You should give enough information for tourists to easily get there way around and will be able to plan their journey from your website beforehand. That is the key of a tourism based website.

I suggest you starting off by making separate tabs for the information to go into, such as attractions, accommodation and many more. You may one to link to weather websites of HK and probably information on the HK currency for foreign travelers.

If you need more help, please inform me anytime!

Best Regards,

Mr. Lai Ting Fung

Session 17 (24th April)

Back to the music of the videos I may produce, I think it will be best to put traditional chinese music, which will bring the tourists a warm welcoming of Hong Kong. As from before, the website has to be user friendly and must link to existing websites for further reference of tourists.

This may be the official website of the HK tourism board (existing website). It contains a very in depth look into every aspect of Hong Kong, such as how to get around the city (transport) and tourism attractions.

For the project, I have also found a client from the HK tourism board, which will help me on the research for my website. He will help me improve my thoughts of how to create the website in a better way. Instead of interviewing and recording the conversation, since my client has emailed me that he cannot make it because of a busy schedule, so we will keep in contact using email services. I will then transfer the text he writes into the blog. It may also be easier to screenshot the email.

Session 16 (16th April)

3.2 Proposed product or service: The website I will create must not mislead people to the wrong tabs, and shall not confuse anybody. It needs to successfully lead people to where they want to read their information.

Additionally in order to give the people accurate information, I should frequently update the website for information such as weather, currency exchange prices etc. In other cases, I can also link the website to the HK observatory or to a program that updates information for tourists.

To include videos in my website to show tourists, I need to input things such as appropriate music and pictures, which must be taken by myself. This information should be appropriate to HK and tourists. To get this video on my website, I should attach a link there which goes to another website containing the video, or compress the video to a decent size and attach it to a tab in the website. The music should be soothing for tourists to listen to and should not include any lyrics. This will disturb tourists as they watch the video. It should also not include genre music such as rock, pop, metal etc.

Session 15 (25th March)

Dining and Shopping in Hong Kong

Tourists who travel to HK may enjoy to wide range of cuisines HK has to offer. Hong Kong is well known for its delicious foods from all around the world. Worldwide cuisine in HK has been said to be even better than the actual food originated from the country. But most tourists come to experience the true cuisine of HK, they are able to choose from a wide range of Dim Sum. These are delightful, mouth-watering Chinese snacks served in steaming bamboo baskets and eaten with pots and pots of Chinese tea for breakfast or lunch. Steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, beef balls and pan-fried squid with spicy salt are just some of the local favourites.

Seafood is another choice for tourists to enjoy. Huge tanks of live fish and containers of prawns, crabs, scallops, clams, oysters and other seafood for attention. Preparing fresh, live seafood is a culinary art in Hong Kong, where skilled Cantonese chefs will make distinctive flavours and textures of their fishy dishes. There are four seafood locations for waterfront dining- Sai Kung, Lei Yue Mun, and the islands of Lamma and Cheung Chau.

Nevertheless, HK may also be known as the shopping paradise, from huge department stores containing worldwide brands to narrow streets selling traditional HK things. Many tourists from around the world come to HK to shop, as there are no taxes in HK to pay and most famous brands are rather cheap in comparison to origin countries. Ranging from clothing, electronics and all sorts of assessories, HK is the best shopping district for anybody.

Session 14 (16th March)

Golden Bauhinia Square and & Flag Raising Ceremony

Golden Bauhinia Square (commonly known as the Expo Promenade) marks the most important ocassion in HK's history, and 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). The main ceremonies took place on the night of 30 June 1997. The Hong Kong SAR was formed on 1 July under its Chief Executive, Shanghai-born former shipping magnate, Tung Chee-Hwa.

Daily Flag Raising Ceremony- Daily, 7:50am - 8:03am

Enhanced Flag Raising Ceremony- On the 1st of every month, 7:45am - 8:13am

Avenue of Stars

Discover what makes Hong Kong the Hollywood of the East at this tribute to the professionals who have contributed to the territory's hundred-year history of filmmaking. The Avenue of Stars features commemorative plaques, handprints of movie celebrities, descriptive milestones, kiosks with movie memorabilia, a towering Hong Kong Film Awards statuette, and a life-size statue of the legendary kung-fu action star, Bruce Lee. The location on the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade offers incredible panoramic views of the famed Victoria Harbour and the memorable Hong Kong skyline. It is also a good place to watch the spectacular "A Symphony of Lights", a nightly multimedia show with added pyrotechnics on special occasions.

Clock Tower

The old Clock Tower near the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui is a declared monument and a landmark from the Age of Steam, when it formed part of the Kowloon - Canton Railway terminus.

Erected in 1915, the distinctive 44-metre red brick and granite tower is a graceful reminder of those Colonial times. But over many pre-war years it had far greater significance for innumerable Chinese migrants for whom the former terminus was the conduit to new lives either in Hong Kong or by ship to distant destinations overseas.

Today, the site of the historic railway station is occupied by the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, its curving roof and futuristic features creating an unusual background to the Clock Tower.

Tsing Ma Bridge

The magnificent Tsing Ma Bridge, the world's longest span suspension bridge carrying both road and rail traffic, is the key connection between Hong Kong and its international airport on Lantau Island. The bridge is 2.2 kilometres long, with the main span measuring 1,377 metres. The towers supporting the bridge are 206 metres high with a clearance of 62 metres. Approximately 49,000 tonnes of structural steel was used in the construction of the bridge, which cost HK$7.14 billion to build. This was only 5% of the total cost of HK$155.3 billion for all the Airport Core Projects, acclaimed as one of the top 10 construction projects of the 20th Century.

Session 13 (28th February)

Hong Kong National Geopark

covers an area of 50 square kilometres across parts of the Eastern and Northeastern New Territories. It is divided into the Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock Region and the Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region, with each region featuring four Geo-Areas, or eight in total. Within the Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region lie Sharp Island, High Island, the Ninepin Group and the Ung Kong Group, whereas the Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock Region includes Double Haven, Tolo Channel, Tung Ping Chau, Port Island and Bluff Head.

Stanley Market and Murray House

A popular market town on the sunny south side of Hong Kong Island, Stanley's relaxed ambience, crisp sea environs and bargain buys have made it world famous.

Seven days a week the open market around Stanley New Street and Stanley Market Road throbs with the passing parade of life as bargain-hunters from all over the world join in the fun of haggling with shopkeepers and stallholders. Choose from brand-name clothing and accessories, or simply irresistible souvenirs, ornaments and other Oriental knick-knacks. The market is open from 10:30am to 6:30pm.

Stanley also has beautiful beaches that are popular with windsurfers. And when you're feeling peckish, you'll find a wide variety of funky bars and great restaurants to enjoy.

Among the more interesting restaurant sites on the waterfront is Murray House, a 160-year-old restored three-storey colonial building that was dismantled in 1982 from its original site in Central and then rebuilt in Stanley. It was restored in 1998 and now houses the Hong Kong Maritime Museum as well as restaurants.

Situated beside Murray House is Blake Pier at Stanley. Originally located in Central, Blake Pier was first dismantled in 1965 and later relocated to Morse Park to form the roof of the Morse Park pavilion. Now it has returned to its role as a public pier in Stanley, complementing the colonial architectural style of Murray House.

This information comes from the official HK Tourism Board website (using for research use).