30/6/2005

Presentation by Mr Alfred Leung, Head of Betting Services (On-course)

atEDR's Press Briefing 30 June 2005

New initiatives for Public racegoers in 2005/06

  1. Customers surveys conducted from time to time reveal that fans who go racing at the Shatin or Happy Valley racecourse, apart from looking forward to exciting racing, have high expectations on both a comfortable environment and a high level of service standard from our service staff.
  1. Our Customers can generally fall into 3 segment groups, namely i) regular race goers, ii) casual race goers, and iii) tourists.
  1. To satisfy expectations of different groups of customers, we strive to provide facilities and services that will meet the needs of our customers. Some of you may be interested to know that according to our customers' survey, we found that most customers tell us that, apart from winning some fortune at the races, the other most frequently raised areas of satisfaction that they are looking for when coming to the racecourse are: i) comfortable environment, ii) good food court or food outlets, and iii) good and helpful services provided by racecourse staff.
  1. The Beer Garden at Happy Valley forecourt, which is a hot spot for young racing fans and foreigners, will be expanded and upgraded to satisfy the growing demand.
  1. The Sha Tin tourist areas at Grandstand II will be further expanded to accommodate more people. Tipster's forum and racing education programs will be further revamped to satisfy customers' needs.
  1. The racecourse tour for tourists and new customers will be further improved to enrich the itinerary. The number of tours will also be increased to serve more racing fans.
  1. Since race day parties, e.g. Derby party, Labour Day party, APQEII trackside party were very popular, more race day parties will be organised for the coming season.

8.New customer loyalty programmes designed to promote on course attendance will be launched in the new season to reward frequent customers and higher value customers. Details to be announced at a later stage.

9. To organise more joint promotion programs with credit cards operators, drinks suppliers and public transport companies to give more "jetso" and value to our customers.

10. We will continue the Cross-betting promotion programs, such as free parking at Sha Tin. Shuttle bus to KCR University station, complimentary admission, Food discount coupons, and more sitting areas.

11. Enhanced training and coaching programs for full time and part time staff for improvement of job knowledge and customer services will be introduced in the new season to ensure our customers' satisfaction of a great racing experience at the racecourses.

12. Everyone knows that providing good facilities and services to over 15,000+ racing fans at the Public Enclosure on an average raceday, and upto 35,000+ on big days, is no easy task. Our customers service staff need to work hard to make going racing a satisfying experience (and hopefully with a bit of luck, a profitable one as well) and that our fans will want to come back again. Thanks to their continuous effort to improve and innovate, our customer survey tells us that our satisfaction rating achieved continues to remain high, reaching more than point 7 in a 10- point scale. To our ever-increasingly demanding customers, we are committed to providing even better services and will work hard to fulfill, or even exceed, their expectations.