Visitor arrivals surged 21.5% in January 2011

A total of 3,598,030 visitors arrived in January this year.

According to Hong Kong Information Services Department, the Tourism Board said the growth was driven by a 31.2% rise in Mainland arrivals as 2.5 million visitors from Mainland came. About 70% of them came to Hong Kong due to the Individual Visit Scheme. This showed an increase of 42% compared to last year.

The growth can be attributed to the multiple-entry visa arrangement for Shenzhen residents to visit Hong Kong, as well as the expanded scope for non-Guangdong residents in Shenzhen to apply for individual visit endorsement. The appreciation of the renminbi against the Hong Kong dollar also helped draw a large number of Mainlanders.

For the short-haul markets, South Korea showed the most prominent growth, with arrivals rising 24.9% to 102,546. Steady performance was seen in most long-haul market arrivals, with those from Canada seeing the largest increase, up 12.4% to 33,603.

Emerging markets continued to see increased arrivals. The most outstanding growth was from Russia (up 52.6%), which now shares a visa-free arrangement with Hong Kong.

The number of overnight visitors and same-day in-town visitors were 1.78 million and 1.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.4% and 39.8%.