You won’t believe how many tourists went to Hong Kong in November

The total visitor arrivals in the first 11 months even surpassed the yearly total for 2010.

According to a release, Hong Kong welcomed 3,552,733 visitors in November, up 16.4% year-on-year and setting a record high for the month.

The Tourism Board announced today Hong Kong saw 37,770,230 visitor arrivals in the first 11 months of the year, up 16.3% on the same period last year, and surpassing the yearly total for 2010.

Mainland arrivals surged 24.8% year-on-year to surpass 2.3 million. Of these, 63.9%, or 1.5 million people, made their trip on the individual visit scheme, up 27.6% on the same month last year. Cumulatively, Mainland arrivals grew 23.8% to an historic high of more than 25 million, surpassing the 12-month total for 2010.

Among the short-haul market regions, North Asia achieved the best performance in November, with arrivals rising 6.9% to more than 200,000. Southeast Asia also saw moderate growth, with total arrivals rising 7.9% year-on-year to nearly 300,000.

Taiwan arrivals declined 2.3% to just below 160,000. Cumulatively, arrivals from the island were similar to last year’s level at about 2 million. Among these, the higher-spending overnight visitors rose by 9.3% to surpass 710,000, taking up 36% of the total arrivals.

For long-haul regions arrivals grew 1.4% to more than 450,000. The Americas performed the best, with 170,000 arrivals or a 6.9% increase.

Overnight arrivals to Hong Kong reached 1.87 million or 52.9% of all arrivals, a 13.1% increase year-on-year. Same-day arrivals grew 20.3% to exceed 1.67 million.

In the first 11 months of 2011, overnight arrivals increased 11.1% to 20.12 million, accounting for 53.3% of all arrivals. Same-day arrivals increased 22.7% to 17.64 million.

Another new milestone was achieved last night for Hong Kong’s tourism as the city received its first 40-millionth visitor for a single year.