Visitor arrivals increase by 11%
Visitor arrivals in January 2009 reached 2,796,099, or 11% more than in January 2008, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
The growth in Januarywas driven by mainland China residents who travelled to Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year celebrations, which fell in the first month this year, compared to February last year. The visitor arrivals from different market regions were:
- Mainland China: 1,892,336 (+31.3%)
- Taiwan: 181,764 (-3.9%)
- South and Southeast Asia: 189,423 (-7.6%)
- North Asia: 152,597 (-30.3%)
- Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific: 63,506 (-13.6%)
- Europe, Africa and the Middle East: 142,237 (-24.5%)
- The Americas: 114,427 (-25.2%)
Out of the total Mainland arrivals in January, 1,211,726 or 64% arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme. This is a 45.3% year-on-year increase.
Overall, some 57.4% of visitors to Hong Kong in January stayed in the city for at least one night. This is 2.1% lower than the same month last year. The remaining 42.6% same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day as arrival.
Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels in January 2009 was 79%, which was 8% lower than in January 2008. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was US$143.2, which was 10.3% lower than in January 2008.
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