The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced that visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in the first 11 months of 2010 – which totalled 32,486,877 – are already ahead of the total 2009 arrivals, representing a 22.5%-increase year-on-year. In November alone, visitor arrivals reached 3,052,390, 17.1% more than the same month last year. Since the beginning of the year, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong have continued to set new records. Arrivals from the Mainland…
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced that visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in the first 11 months of 2010 – which totalled 32,486,877 – are already ahead of the total 2009 arrivals, representing a 22.5%-increase year-on-year. In November alone, visitor arrivals reached 3,052,390, 17.1% more than the same month last year.
Since the beginning of the year, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong have continued to set new records. Arrivals from the Mainland, other short-haul, as well as long-haul markets have all been growing at satisfactory rates. For January-November 2010, Mainland arrivals outstripped the yearly figure of 2009 to hit 20.4 million, setting a new landmark of Mainland visitors. Arrivals in November also climbed up by more than 20% year-on-year to 1.87 million even in the absence of long holidays during the month.
Overall, arrivals of all short-haul markets went up by over 10% and 18.6% in November and the first 11 months of 2010 respectively. The cumulative figure for North Asia (including Japan and South Korea) rose by 22.1% to approach 2 million. The main contributing factor to the remarkable gain was growing number of South Korean arrivals since the beginning of this year, which registered a year-on-year increase of 45% in the first 11 months. Meanwhile, the appreciation of the Japanese YEN against the US dollar also boosted arrivals from Japan. In Taiwan, the HKTB has been actively working with the travel trade to lure vacationers from the island. As a result, overnight Taiwanese arrivals grew by 20% year-to-date, pushing overall cumulative arrivals up by 8.4%.
In South and Southeast Asia, Indian arrivals in the first 11 months leaped by an outstanding 47.2% year-on-year to approach 490,000. Increased awareness of Hong Kong among Indian consumers as a result of the joint effort of the HKTB and the travel trade, as well as expanded flight capacity between India and Hong Kong, have both accelerated the growth momentum. As for other Southeast Asian markets, owing to stabilising economic conditions, greater travel propensity and promotion of Hong Kong by the travel trade, arrivals from such markets as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia sustained an upward trend in both November and January-November 2010.
Another emerging market enjoying impressive growth is Russia, which arrivals soared by 89.6% in November and doubled in the first 11 months. Notwithstanding a lower base, there has been a higher tendency among Russian residents to travel out of the country during the winter. The visa-free arrangements and increased direct flights also acted as pull factors to draw more Russian visitors to Hong Kong. As for the Middle East, arrivals rose steadily by 8.8% in November and 21.6% in the first 11 months.
In the long-haul regions, business and vacation travel continued to increase because of the recovering global economy, sustaining the growth of overall long-haul arrivals in November. The cumulative 11-month arrivals also registered an 11.2%-rise year-on-year. The USA, Canada and major European markets, such as France, Germany and Italy, have all achieved growth of 10% or more.
Overnight Visitors
In November 2010, more than 1.66 million overnight visitors were recorded, representing 54.4% of all visitors to Hong Kong and a 9.7%-increase versus November 2009. Most market regions experienced prominent growth in overnight visitors, with the strongest increase from South and Southeast Asia (+16.4%) and North Asia (+16.2%).
Overnight visitors in the first 11 months of 2010 amounted to 18.10 million, or 55.7% of all visitors to Hong Kong, a year-on-year rise of 19.5%.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
