FOR the first time this year, the GCC market has taken the lead in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong within the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s new markets category.
Latest statistics reveal that between January 1 to February 28 this year, 6,487 visitors travelled to Hong Kong from the GCC, a year-to-date increase of 18.5 per cent. Within the month of February, 2,538 visitors from the GCC were recorded, marking an increase of 19.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2013. The Hong Kong Tourism Board classifies the GCC within the New Markets category alongside India, Russia, Vietnam and the Netherlands. Although in terms of total number of passengers, the GCC statistics were much smaller compared to the larger Indian and Russian markets, the percentage growth recorded was much higher. India followed closely behind with an increase of 11.9 per cent, whereas Russia recorded an increase of only 1.7 per cent.