Hong Kong’s tourist arrivals figures suggest that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China continued to enjoy growth in 2008. Hong Kong recorded a historical record of 29.5 million travellers, up 4.7%. This growth was, however, a slight disappointment for the Hong Kong Tourism Board, which had predicted earlier in the year that it would exceed the 30-million arrivals mark.

With 16.9 million travellers (+8.9%), mainland China continues to be Hong Kong’s top market source, with a market share of 55%. Of the 29.5 million visitors who came to the city in 2008, almost 17.3 million (58.7%) stayed overnight, down by 2.2%. Growth in China’s arrivals more than compensated for declines from Europe/Africa and the Middle East (-4.4% to 2.1 million) and the Americas (-5.5% to 1.7 million). However, even China’s performance has been affected by restriction on visa policy during the second half of 2008.

Neighbour Macau saw total visitor arrivals rising by 11.8 percent to over 30 million in 2008. Like in Hong Kong, Mainland China travellers represented the bulk of all arrivals at 17.5 million (+17.7%). Macau remains however a short trip destination as same-day visitors represented 52.8% of all arrivals. Visitors by air totalled only 1.7 million - nevertheless, up 15.2% over 2007 - compared with 18.8 million travellers arriving by land and 9.7 million arriving by sea.