Mainlanders boost sagging Hong Kong tourism

Tourist arrivals for the first seven months of 2012 increased 15.2% to 26.7m.

Total arrivals for this period stood at 26.7 million, up 15.2% on the same period last year. Arrivals also rose in July compared to the year earlier, or to 4.4 million, a 13.8% increase, said the Tourism Board.

Mainland arrivals led the growth with a 21.9% surge on the same period last year, to more than 3 million visitors. A total of 66.3% of Mainland arrivals to Hong Kong came under the individual visit scheme, 21.1% more than in the same month last year.

Visitor arrivals from outside China plummeted, however. South and Southeast Asia arrivals dropped 11.6%, while those from Taiwan fell 6.2%. Arrivals from Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific dropped 7.4%.

Long-haul arrivals for the first seven months dropped 5.4% while the short-haul market fell 4.6%.

Some 2.21 million visitors stayed overnight in July, up 3.6% on the same month last year.