Hong Kong’s April tourist arrivals up 20%

Though battered by the March 11 earthquake and its aftermath, the decline in arrivals from Japan was less than 1%, as business travel remained unchanged.

Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached 3,357,960 in April, a 20.1% increase on the same month last year, the Tourism Board announced on Thursday.

For the first four months of the year, total arrivals stood at 13,065,931, up 14.4% year on year.

In April, arrivals from the Mainland rose 28.7% to surpass 2.13 million. The majority were travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme, accounting for 1.35 million or 63.2% of all Mainland arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 41.9%. Those travelling with tour group visas also grew 21.1% to exceed 270,000, or 12.9% of the monthly total from the market.

Growth was also observed in the short-haul markets, with total arrivals increasing 6.4% to more than 680,000. In North Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, notwithstanding the March 11 earthquake and its aftermath, the decline in arrivals was less than 1%, as business travel from Japan remained unimpaired. A strong travel sentiment prevailed in South Korea. In April alone, South Korean arrivals grew 13.8%.

In Southeast Asia, arrivals rose 7.9%, with Singapore being the best performer. Taiwan arrivals grew 10.3% to almost 200,000.

For the long-haul markets, arrivals rose 7.1% to surpass 460,000. Arrivals from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, as well as Europe, Africa and the Middle East, rose 9.4% and 8.4%.

For the emerging markets, Russia continued to take the lead with a growth rate of 73%. Arrivals from the Middle East dropped 7.7%.

Overnight arrivals reached 1.79 million, representing 53.3% of all visitors to Hong Kong and a 13.4% increase over last year. Same-day visitors also rose 28.7% to 1.56 million.

Cumulatively, overnight arrivals rose 7.6% to 6.9 million or 52.9% of all visitors to Hong Kong, whereas same-day visitors went up 23.1% to 6.15 million.