In most travel plans, success is measured by the number of locations covered. Cathay Pacific gave its creators the opposite rule: each received one square kilometre of Hong Kong and the task of turning it into an entire journey.
This limitation forms the basis of the new phase of the Hong Kong: The Most Fun Per km² campaign, developed by the airline with the agency Leo Singapore. The platform was first introduced in Southeast Asian markets in 2025 and has now expanded to Australia and New Zealand, with new creators and neighbourhoods to explore.
Jenn & Jon, Irny, Shayla and Lu & Lachy were assigned to parts of the city including Central and Sheung Wan, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, Jordan and Yau Ma Tei, and Sham Shui Po and Mong Kok. Within their designated boundaries, they discover dai pai dong street-side restaurants, Michelin-starred restaurants, independent cafés, hidden bars, markets, cultural sites and shops that could easily be overlooked among better-known landmarks in a conventional travel guide.
The square kilometre not only limited the creators’ movements but also determined how the content was presented. On TikTok, each creator’s journey was published as a standalone story about one neighbourhood, while the Instagram grid was transformed into a map of Hong Kong, with individual squares leading to different parts of the city. Alongside the videos, the campaign provides suggestions for places travellers can visit in the featured neighbourhoods, as well as flight offers to Hong Kong.
This approach turns the city’s density, usually described as an urban fact or problem, into its tourism advantage. The smaller the space, the greater the contrast between what can be found within it, from food and nightlife to history, shopping and nature.
The campaign comes amid continued growth in international arrivals to Hong Kong. According to figures cited by the airline, the city recorded 26.7 million visitors in the first half of 2026, 13 percent more than during the same period of the previous year. Instead of encouraging this interest with another list of places to visit, Cathay Pacific gives travellers less ground and more reasons to stay within it.
