Tourists flocking to Hong Kong surge 16.3% to 35.4m

Thanks to Mainland market growth and rise in visits from Nort Asia.

According to a government release, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong from January to September increased 16.3% year-on-year to reach 35.37 million, the Tourism Board said today.

Of these, 17.41 million were overnight arrivals, 6.8% more than last year, while the number of overnight vacationers rose 7.9%.

Board chairman James Tien credited Mainland market growth and increased visits from North Asia, up 12.5%, and Europe, up 7.5%, for the double-digit increase. He expects to achieve the yearly target of 44 million arrivals.

For the Mainland market, the number of overnight vacationers increased 12.3%, with those from non-Guangdong areas up almost 24%. Spending by non-Guangdong visitors exceeded $12,000 a person in the first half of 2012, compared with $5,000 by visitors from Guangdong.

Among all the short-haul market regions, North Asia, which achieved growth of 6.3% or 1.8 million visitor arrivals, was the best performer. For Southeast Asia, the Philippines reaped the best results with 11.4% and 12.1% increase in its overall and overnight arrivals respectively.

In the long-haul markets, amid an unresolved European sovereign debt crisis, the UK contributed 380,000 arrivals, up 5.1%. Arrivals from Russia rose 48.9% to reach 130,000.