Even Wu sounds a bit uneasy about a project he says is a 'gimmick' by tour operator Hong Thai Travel. 'It's all about [the company] attracting some attention with this,' he says of the one-off tour which, although still more than two weeks away, has already recruited 20 people.

Still, he is all for tours that veer from the hackneyed travel spots that invariably rely on snakes, statues and spicy food.

'There are so many great places to have fun and eat,' says Wu, who now shudders at the cobra-and-drag-queen routine he put up with during his first few trips to Thailand in 1990 and 1991. 'Travel agencies just avoid new things because you avoid taking risks if you don't have to experiment.'

The fact that Wu's tour actually made it beyond the drawing board suggests local travel agents are looking beyond familiar ground. Even as Hong Kong's post-Sars recession eases, tour operators must innovate to survive the sector's cut-throat competition: the attempts to undercut each other by offering cheap packages, such as three days in Thailand for under $1,000, could not last long.

Wu's tour represents one of the latest trends to have captured the imagination of the travel industry and holidaymakers: special-themed tours that are usually supplemented by well-paid media or showbiz personalities as honorary guides.

A similarly unconventional adventure is Star Express' Golf in Japan tour. Chua Lam, the media-savvy bon viveur behind the outing, wants to dispel the increasingly down-market connotations of the package tour with an unabashed celebration of wealth: a $23,800, five-day trip that combines rounds at three exclusive clubs in Hyogo and Wakayama prefectures and lavish feasts at spa resorts.

In another tour, the more working-class Leung Man-to guides travellers to far-flung places for odd delicacies, while veteran photographer Hong Kong Water Poon conducts a journey across the Yangtze River's picturesque landscapes. There was even a trip to Bali for singles, in which the perennially tanned model-cum-television presenter Cheng Kai-tai acted as hedonistic entertainer and matchmaker.

'After a very busy Lunar New Year break, we discovered that Hongkongers are less price-conscious and their will to spend has more or less recovered - so that's why we spent time coming up with more lavish and deliberate package tours, in contrast to the incredibly low-priced ones we had in the light of the situation after Sars,' says Hong Thai general manager Susanna Lau Mei-sze.

The search for fresher perspectives has launched tours for niche markets, she says. This pursuit of bespoke journeys might not rake in massive profits, but the tours generate more publicity than their humdrum counterparts. Hong Thai's most high-profile trip was the Twin Cities Tour in August. Chip Tsao, one of Hong Kong's best-known writers and a self-confessed Anglophile, helped devise an itinerary that covers literary landmarks in France and England, from Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral to William Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. The trip's difference was Tsao's running commentary. 'We planned this with Tsao for several months and we knew his presence would appeal to some of his fans,' says Lau. 'In fact, we organised a pre-departure seminar with him, talking about literature and history and the place was packed.'

While most tourists might still opt for more traditional tours involving shopping and Chinese meals, regardless of the destination, the surge in information about independent travelling in guidebooks and the travel pages in the mainstream press, has fostered an increasing demand for more diversity than the usual shop-and-snap routines.

Conventional tour operators face the pressures of consumers' increasing cultural sophistication and ease of overseas travel, says Joseph Tung Yiu-chung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong. 'More and more countries allow Hong Kong passport-holders visa-free access and it's easier for tourists to just book a flight-and-accommodation package than a tour with a strict itinerary,' he says Tung.

He cites the increase in 'free travellers' to Japan after the country lifted visa-related regulations this year. 'With so much choice, travel agencies need to come up with package tours with special characteristics, such as gourmet tours or study tours,' Tung says. 'They need to change.'

Among those who pioneered this move from the norm is Sunflower Travel, whose first celebrity-led theme tour was a trip to offbeat locations in Shanghai, led by food critic Benny Li Shun-yan.

'As a travel writer, he is well-known for knowing how to enjoy life, so getting him on board allowed us to cultivate a market among those who can spend more,' says the agency's executive director, Alex Lee Chun-ting. Another successful trip to Japan followed, and Sunflower has since organised projects ranging from Commercial Radio DJs leading a tour to South Korea to Leung Man-to guiding food lovers across the New Territories, culminating, unsurprisingly, in a banquet at his own restaurant in Yuen Long.

The company's most recent ventures are local tours with Nancy Sit Ka-yin, the celebrity synonymous for her role as matriarch in TVB comedy Virtues of Harmony.

'We are aiming at families there, because she's someone who is liked by people of all ages,' Lee says. 'This is our move to help us make inroads into the family-driven market. We hope we can encourage families to have days out together, preferably on our tours.' Sit's participation, however, has led industry insiders to question whether the prestige or quirkiness previously accorded to celebrity tours still exists: television actors leading tours to Guangzhou are hardly dazzling affairs. Lee says the formula is becoming less effective as a publicity stunt or a significant source of revenue.

As someone who has put on B-list celebrities at the helm of his themed tours, he is blunt about their limitations. Only minor celebrities will do these tours, Lee says, since genuine icons will hardly risk losing their mystique, should they mingle with ordinary travellers.

'You get such a mixed bunch these days in these themed tours,' he says.

Aware that the novelty value of these celebrity-driven package tours may be wearing off, Lee says the way forward could be to hedge bets on alternative lifestyle trends - such as yoga tours to India and Bali, or eco-tourism in New Zealand. 'Themed tours like these are still in their infancy - tourists from Hong Kong still revel in the very basic pleasures of eating, drinking and being entertained,' he says.

'But look at the situation in other countries: educational elements in travel [are] so common. People go overseas with other cultures and the environment on their minds.'