Hong Kong posts continued increase in visitor arrivals

HONG KONG – Figures released Friday by the Hong Kong Tourism Board showed that visitor arrivals in March 2008 reached 2,404,499, 11.2 percent more than in March 2007. This brings cumulative arrivals for the first quarter of 2008 to 7,275,521, 10 percent ahead of the same period last year.

Mainland China was the best performing of all long- and short-haul market regions, with arrivals growing by 16.8 percent to 1,269,673. Arrivals from South and South-east Asia were up by 10.2 percent at 264,951; Europe, Africa & the Middle East: 226,862, (+by 8.8 percent); Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: 66,117 (+7.7 percent); the Americas: 173,739 (+7.6 percent); Taiwan: 1678,130 (no change); and North Asia: 186,925 (-1.6 percent).

Arrivals from non-Mainland markets took up 47.2 percent of the total monthly arrivals. Double-digit growth was recorded in the high-potential market of South Korea (+13.3 percent), and the emerging markets of the Middle East (+15.7 percent), Russia (+27 percent) and India (+13.8 percent).