Struggling tourism sector rebounds as visitor arrivals rise 3.2% in 2017

This is equivalent to over 58 million tourists.

Hong Kong’s battered tourism sector slowly regains its footing as total visitor arrivals rose 3.2% YoY to over 58.47m visitors in 2017, according to data from the Tourism Board. 

Visitors from Mainland China, which accounts for a lion's share of total arrivals, also increased 3.9% to over 44.45m tourists. 

Tourists from Taiwan generated the most visitor activity of the short-haul markets after registering over 2.01m tourists. This was followed by 1.49m tourists from South Korea and 1.23m from Japan. 

There were also over 1.21m tourists from the US and half a million from the United Kingdom. 

Visitors from Gulf Cooperation Council markets - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates - also posted a significant increase at 22.7%.