Statistics

HK's Jan visitor arrivals up 5.9%

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-03 10:11

HONG KONG: Hong Kong saw a 5.9-percent year-on-year rise in visitor arrivals in January to 2.96 million, with the short-and long-haul markets recording 18 percent and 18.7 percent growth respectively, the Tourism Board said Tuesday.

With the global economy stabilizing and consumer travel sentiment gradually recovering, visitor arrivals from North Asia saw a 29.1 percent gain driven by the 40.5 percent upsurge from the Republic of Korea.

Mainland visitor arrival saw a milder increase of 0.8 percent, given the relatively higher base of arrivals as a result of the Lunar New Year holiday being in January of last year. Taiwan arrivals grew 0.2 percent.

Emerging markets, including India, Russia and the Middle East, continued their upward trend since the last quarter of 2009, with arrivals substantially boosted by expanded flight capacity, visa- free arrangements and the increased propensity to travel.

Occupancy across all hotel categories was 87 percent, up 8 percentage points. The average achieved hotel room rate was HK$1,096 ($141.15), down 1.9 percent.