VISITOR numbers for Hong Kong were up nine per cent in October and the island was expected to record a drop of only 1.6 per cent through-out 2009.
Figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board showed 2,761,945 people visited the destination in October 2009, up nine per cent on the same period in 2008.
Of these, 217,886 came from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, a fall of just 0.2 per cent, and while numbers travelling from northern Asia were down by 21.2 per cent, visitors from mainland China saw a large increase of 22.8 per cent allowing the month to record a nine per cent increase overall.
In the short-haul regions, excluding mainland China and Macau, arrivals from south and southeast Asia dipped by 5.8 per cent and arrivals from Taiwan fell by 11.4 per cent.
In the long-haul regions, including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Australia and New Zealand, the mild decrease in arrivals, which were down on average 2.5 per cent, is seem by the tourism board as confirmation that the decline in visitor traffic has slowed down – in fact there was a significant improvement on the almost 18 per cent drop in March.
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Victoria Harbour |
And, though part of larger regional figures, the Middle East individually registered a 25 per cent increase in travellers to Hong Kong in October 2009.
Overall 56.4 per cent of visitors in October stayed in the city for at least one night and for January to October the figure was 57 per cent.
Hotel occupancy across all categories in October was at 84 per cent, just one per cent down on the same period in 2008.
The geographic locations with the highest occupany were Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, where hotels recorded an average occupancy of 91 per cent. However, the average achieved room rate across all categories was 20 per cent lower than in October 2008.