September arrivals up 2.5%
Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in September reached 2,250,718, up 2.5% year-on-year, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). Cumulative arrivals from January to September totaled 21,159,973, with the year-to-date shortfall further improved from — 3.4% in August to — 2.8% in September. The table below summarizes arrivals from different market regions:
Market Regions |
January - September 2009 |
Change vs. 2008 |
September 2009 |
Change vs. 2008 |
1,120,996 |
-9.7% |
112,111 |
-1.5% |
1,392,052 |
-8.7% |
143,415 |
+2.6% |
506,287 |
-9.5% |
64,176 |
-7.4% |
1,339,692 |
-20.8% |
161,555 |
-8.2% |
1,979,756 |
-3.2% |
251,154 |
+18.0% |
1,486,643 |
-12.4% |
148,138 |
-19.6% |
12,876,682 |
+3.0% |
1,326,110 |
+6.1% |
|
|
* Total figure includes arrivals from Macau SAR
The increase in arrivals in September was mainly driven by continued gain from mainland China as well as seasonal growth in South and Southeast Asia. For the Mainland, with improved travel sentiments, the market achieved notable growth of 6.1% compared to the large base in September 2008, when many Mainland travelers resumed their outbound travel post-Olympics.
Arrivals from South and Southeast Asia rose 18%, mainly boosted by the Eid al-Fitr holidays in various markets. Besides Indonesia (+87.6%), Singapore (+17.0%) and India (+14.9%) also showed remarkable growth, with the latter enjoying increased flight capacity since September 2009.
Taiwan and North Asia, however, continued their negative trend, as arrivals from the island were impacted by direct flights, while the weak Won in South Korea continued to take a toll on outbound travel.
The shortfall continued to narrow in the long-haul market regions, with Europe, Africa and the Middle East achieving growth of 2.6%. The increase attributed to the lower base of arrivals last September, when long-haul travel was affected by the dual impact of the Mainland visa policy and the global financial crisis.
Overall, approximately 54.7% of all visitors to Hong Kong in September stayed in the city for at least one night, 1.6 percentage points lower than in the same month last year. The remaining 45.3% same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day they arrived.
Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels in September 2009 was 76%, 3 percentage points lower than in September 2008. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was US$133, 15.1% lower year-on-year.
|
