Hong Kong is a favourable relocation destination for expats

Nearly 9 in 10 Hong Kong-based expats found it easy to travel around locally, while 58% of HK respondents say it was easy to find accommodation.

HSBC Bank International Ltd recently revealed that Hong Kong is among the most favourable destinations for expats to relocate. Hong Kong performed well in terms of ease in setting up accommodation, local transportation and social networks. Over six in 10 Hong Kong-based expats (65%) claim it is easy to make friends. However, 44 per cent of expats said they found it difficult to make local friends, suggesting that expats tend to stick with other Hong Kong-based expats.

Globally, Thailand tops the Expat Experience 2010 league table, making it the best place to live according to expats. Expat Experience, the second report in the Expat Explorer Survey, shows that Thailand has overtaken last year’s Expat Experience top spot holder – Canada, which this year comes in at second place followed by Bahrain (3rd), according to an HSBC report.

Now in its third year, Expat Explorer is the largest survey of its kind, surveying over 4,100 expats from more than 100 countries. Expat Experience explores the lifestyle experiences of expats while they live and work abroad as determined by 29 factors, including:

• Improvement in a number of quality of life factors such as food/diet, entertainment, healthcare, work life balance and social life
• Ease of setting up finances, healthcare and utilities
• Ease of integration such as enjoying the local food and local culture

Career prospects and quality of life don’t go hand in hand for expats
The majority of expats (57%) cited career opportunities and increased financial gain as key motivations to move to a new country. However, the choice to move to a country that offers great benefits financially often means moving to a destination with a lower quality of life.

While Saudi Arabia (85%), Qatar (83%) and Russia (76%) are the most popular destinations for expats motivated by financial gain and increased career progression, these countries typically score very low on quality of life rankings (Saudi Arabia 20th, Qatar 19th and Russia 24th out of 25).

In contrast, expats moving to countries that score well on the quality of life league table such as South Africa (3rd), Spain (6th) and France (7th), are much less appealing to those looking for increased career progression and financial gain. Less than one in five (18%) expats moving to Spain did so to improve their earning potential, alongside 26% in France and 40% in South Africa.

However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Expats in Bahrain and Bermuda both scored particularly well for quality of life, scoring 2nd and 5th respectively on the quality of life league table, while also scoring within the top quartile of the 2010 Expat Economics league table (3rd and 4th respectively).

Nick Winsor, CEO at HSBC Bank International, comments: “Expats decide to move abroad for a number of reasons and this year’s report highlights the importance of gaining as much insight as possible as to what to expect from a move to a completely new destination. Prior planning and researching new locations is therefore crucial to ensure the new destination lives up to everything that those moving to a new destination were hoping to achieve and to secure a seamless transition from country to country, especially for those with families to consider.”

Emotive dilemmas top the list of expat concerns – especially female expats
Emotive concerns such as re-establishing a social life (41%), feeling lonely and missing friends and family (34%) were the top worries amongst expats ahead of relocation.

These worries were greatest amongst female expats. Nearly half of female expats surveyed (48%) admitted concerns about re-establishing their social life in their new country ahead of relocation, compared to only 37% of men. Meanwhile 44% of female expats shared concerns about missing their friends and family, compared to less than one third (29%) of men.

Lisa Wood, Head of Customer Propositions at HSBC Bank International comments:
“Although moving to a new country is undoubtedly going to provide some logistical obstacles as expats look to move their worldly possessions from continent to continent, it seems these challenges do not cause expats any major concerns.

“In fact, emotive worries are the biggest concerns for expats, especially amongst women. We’ve found that many female expats undertake a move as a result of their partner being posted abroad through their employment. As a result, they often have to assume full responsibility to set up their family and their partner in their new home and are often the one making the majority of the arrangements prior to move and once they’ve arrived. This extra strain can explain the fact that women may well miss their friends and family more once they move and highlight their desire to re-establish a new social life fairly quickly.”

For those heading to Mainland Europe language barriers appeared to be the largest issue. While one third of expats shared concerns about learning the local language, this figure was particularly high for expats heading to mainland Europe, such as Germany (59%), Switzerland (58%), France (57%), the Netherlands (55%), Spain (50%) and Belgium (46%).

Unsurprisingly, very few expats heading to these destinations spoke the same language in their home country, which can account for the difficulty they faced on their move (Germany 5%, Switzerland 13%, France 6%, Netherlands 3%, Spain 4% and Belgium 9%).