Hong Kong tourism figures hit a record high with more than 2 million visitors in August, according to the latest figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

A total of 14 million visitors had been recorded in the first eight months of the year, said Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, who was attending the World Travel Congress opened in Hong Kong on Tuesday night.

Following the magic milestone of 2 million visitors to Hong Kong last month, and averaging about 400,000 visitors a week over the year, Hong Kong is likely to achieve the target of 20.5 million visitors for the full year, said Tourism Board executive director Clara Chong Ming-wah.

Organized by the American Society of Travel Agents, the four-day conference was an opportunity to reinforce Hong Kong`s reputation as the events capital of Asia, said Chong.

The US market is the fourth largest source market for Hong Kong with 683,791 arrivals in 2003, which was a difficult year. In the first seven months in 2004, a total of 578,862 visitors came to Hong Kong from the United States, an increase of 1.07 percent as compared to the same period in 2002.