Hong Kong welcomed 2.14 million visitors in October, a 6.4% increase in arrivals over…
Hong Kong welcomed 2.14 million visitors in October, a 6.4% increase in arrivals over the same month in 2004, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced. This sets a new record for January – October 2005 to 19,098,986, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%.
While long-haul markets continued to lead the way, with Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific increasing by 21.9% (58,358 visitors) and Europe, Africa & the Middle East showing a rise of 17.7% (205,177), many short-haul markets in South & Southeast Asia (12.9%, 219,141) also performed strongly. All other regional markets showed arrivals increases: Taiwan (7.4%, 193,622), The Americas (4.6%, 161,070), Mainland China (3.3%, 1,115,023) and North Asia (2.8%, 151,420).
Individual markets registering double-digit growth were Indonesia (21.7%), Australia (21.4%), the Philippines (17.7%), South Korea (17.2%), Thailand (16.7%), India (13.9%), Germany (13.4%), Singapore (13.1%) and the United Kingdom (10.0%).
“The growth in arrivals from long-haul and regional markets reflects the importance we place in managing our visitor portfolio,” said HKTB Executive Director Clara Chong. “While we appreciate the increasing global presence of Mainland China will continue to feed arrivals to Hong Kong, we are strongly capitalizing on new sources of visitors, such as Italy the Netherlands and Israel. As a result of these promotional activities around the world, we are on track to reach our targeted 23 million visitors by the end of this year.”
“Although the outlook for tourism continues to be positive, we are closely monitoring a number of factors – such as avian flu and rising fuel costs – that might affect our projections. Our overseas offices are constantly tracking the sentiments of consumers and trade, and keeping us appraised of any changes in the situation.”
In the meantime, the HKTB will continue its heavy promotion of Hong Kong through December and into the New Year, with 2005 Hong Kong WinterFest. This popular Mega Event will also serve as a prelude to the full launch of the 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year integrated global campaign, which has already been rolled out to long-haul consumers, and will be unveiled in short-haul markets shortly.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
