August visitor arrivals soars 17.7%

Visitors from China and Southeast Asia made largest contribution to total 4,065,761 foreign tourists.

Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong surpassed four million in August, setting a new monthly record.

The Tourism Board announced today 4,065,761 people visited Hong Kong last month, up 17.7% on August last year.

Visitor arrivals amounted to 27,236,330 in the first eight months of the year, up 16.2% on the same period last year.

Tourism Board Chairman James Tien said: "Following an historic high of 3.8 million arrivals in July, this is the second month in a row that arrivals set a new monthly record. Overall, during the summer period from June to August, we welcomed a total of 10,940,371 arrivals, 18.8% more than the corresponding period last year."

He said visitor numbers from the Mainland and Southeast Asia were high, mainly because of the favourable economic climate and appreciation of currencies in these markets. He forecast that tourism from Mainland and other short-haul markets will continue to grow.

“We project Mainland arrivals will go up by around 8% to 10% during the National Day Golden Week. The Tourism Board has already planned for a series of promotions, which will be rolled out in the coming months to keep up the growth momentum.”

In August, visitor arrivals from the Mainland grew 23% year-on-year to exceed 2.91 million, making it the highest-ever Mainland arrival figure for a single month. More than 1.51 million, or 51.9% of all Mainland arrivals were overnight visitors, 17.7% more than last year. Those who travelled under the Individual Visit Scheme reached 1.95 million, accounting for a 22.9% increase year-on-year and 67% of all Mainland arrivals in the month. 

Arrivals from Southeast Asia surged 25.2% to 250,000.