Rising visitor numbers for Hong Kong

Some 35.4 million people came during the first nine months.

The number rose 16.3% year-on-year to reach 35.4 million. Of these, 17.4 million were overnight arrivals, 6.8% more than last year, while the number of overnight vacationers rose 7.9%.

Mainland arrivals went up 24.2% year-on-year to 25,326,528. Of these, 66.2% or 16,771,929 came on the Individual Visit Scheme for a 26.4% increase over last year. As for those Shenzhen residents who made their visits with the multiple-entry visa, the number increased 58.8% year-on-year to about 7 million.

For short-haul markets, overall arrivals remained at a similar level as that of last year. North Asia, which achieved growth of 6.3% or 1.8 million visitor arrivals, was the best performer in the short-haul market. Over half (1 million) of these arrivals came from Japan, 7.0% more than last year, with overnight arrivals up 10.3%.

The remaining 800,000 arrivals from South Korea represented growth of 5.4% year-on-year, while the growth rate of overnight arrivals (over 540,000) was even higher at 7.3%.

For Southeast Asia, arrivals reached almost 2.25 million, more or less the same as the figure of the corresponding period last year. The Philippines reaped the best results with 11.4% and 12.1% increase in its overall and overnight arrivals respectively.

Hong Kong Tourism Board Chairman James Tien said that despite the uncertain global economic environment, which has impacted overall business arrivals and the performance of individual markets, total visitor arrivals to Hong Kong showed double-digit growth in the first three quarters of this year. 

“Besides benefiting from the growth in the Mainland market, we are also seeing increase in vacation arrivals from both short-haul and long-haul market regions, with growth rates for North Asia and Europe, for instance, reaching 12.5% and 7.5% respectively.”

Overnight arrivals from the mainland rose over 10% in the first three quarters. In particular, the number of overnight vacationers increased 12.3%, with those from non-Guangdong areas up almost 24%. In recent years, the Hong Kong Tourism Bureau has intensified its promotion in non-Southern China.

“Looking into the fourth quarter, we expect the steady growth to sustain, and that we can achieve the yearly target of 44 million arrivals,” Tien said. “The HKTB will continue its strategy of diversifying the visitor portfolio and roll out a series of mega events to enhance Hong Kong’s appeal and international exposure.”