Chinese New Year parade kick-starts festival

Hong Kong Financial Secretary John C. Tsang (second from right) officiates at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade on February 14. Also present at the ceremony were (from left): Hong Kong Commissioner for Tourism Philip Yung, HKTB Chairman James Tien and Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer John Slosar.

The Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade on February 14 marked the start of a year-long program of celebrations for “Festive Hong Kong 2010.”           

Organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), the parade featured 14 brightly illuminated floats and 26 performing groups from the city and 14 countries and regions, weaving their way through Tsim Sha Tsui. The energy was matched by the crowd’s excitement, with the cheers of visitors and residents ringing in the neon-lit streets, which were adorned with giant decorations symbolizing Hong Kong’s major festivals, including the Cheung Chau Bun Festival.           

Hong Kong Financial Secretary John C. Tsang officiated at the parade’s opening ceremony. He was joined by HKTB Chairman James Tien, Hong Kong Commissioner for Tourism Philip Yung and Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer John Slosar,           

For more information on "Festive Hong Kong 2010", please visit the website.

Festive Hong Kong 2010 will showcase the city’s fusion of Chinese and Western festivities throughout the year. It is designed to encourage visitors to come and experience the unique culture, as well as the colorful integration of “East meets West,” which can be found only in Hong Kong.            

The HKTB is organizing a series of mega events, which will be promoted along with the traditional festivals and cultural celebrations. The agency aims to further elevate Hong Kong’s image as the Events Capital of Asia and create greater business opportunities for its tourism, retail, dining and service sectors.           

This year was the 15th anniversary of the HKTB’s Chinese New Year Parade. For the 12th consecutive year, Cathay Pacific Airways was the title sponsor; it was the third consecutive year that American Express International sponsored the parade route.

30 million visit Hong Kong in 2009           

Despite the global economic meltdown, Hong Kong still experienced modest tourism growth in 2009 — 29,590,654 visitors arrived in the city, a 0.3% increase year-on year, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB).

The table below summarizes the different market regions:

* Total figure includes arrivals from Macau Special Administrative Region           

Arrivals from mainland China grew 6.5% to 17,956,731. The robust growth was mainly driven by improved consumer sentiments in the latter part of the year and the Mainland’s implementation of new measures to encourage Shenzhen residents to visit Hong Kong. Of the total Mainland arrivals in 2009, 10,591,418 arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), accounting for 59% of arrivals. This number is 10.1% higher than in 2008.           

For short-haul regions, arrivals from Taiwan fell 10.3% to 2,009,644, due to the continued impact of the direct links with the Mainland, which affected business arrivals. North Asia registered an 18.2% decline as the weak economy hit outbound travel from Japan and depreciation of the Korean currency affected South Korea. Arrivals from South and Southeast Asia slipped 1.7%; however, Indonesia (+1.3%) and India (+4.6%) recorded gains.           

The economic downturn and reduction in flight capacity caused arrivals from long-haul regions to drop 6.5% in 2009. This was, nevertheless, a significant improvement over the double-digit decline early in the year. Along with small economic improvements toward the end of the year, the Americas and Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific recorded growth in the last two months of 2009.           

Individually, all emerging markets — India (+4.6%), Russia (+15.7%) and the Middle East (+2.0%) — grew in 2009 as a result of enhanced flight capacity and promotional effort. In particular, the mutual visa free access arrangement between Hong Kong and Russia has led to robust growth in the number of Russian travelers since July 2009.

Tourism spending

The Total Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism (TEAIT) was expected to exceed US$20.76 billion in 2009, compared with US$20.37 billion in 2008. Based on current estimates, per capita spending by overnight arrivals will likely be approximately US$724.35, compared with US$697.30 in 2008. The average per capita spending for same-day, in-town visitors was expected to increase from US$192.05 in 2008 to approximately US$217.94 in 2009.

Same-day, in-town visitors           

Of the city’s 29.6 million visitors in 2009, 16.9 million (57.2%) stayed overnight, a drop of 1.5 percentage points from 2008. The remaining 12.7 million were classified as “same-day, in-town” visitors, departing for another destination the same day as arrival.            

While Taiwan continued to have the highest percentage of same-day, in-town visitors at 69.5%, the proportion of visitors staying overnight increased slightly from 29% in 2008 to 30.5% in 2009. The proportion of overnight visitors from mainland China decreased 1.8 percentage points, given the strong growth of same-day consumption visits by Mainland individual visitors, particularly those from Shenzhen.            

Long-haul regions also registered declines in the proportion of overnight visitors due to the economic downturn. The table below summarizes the percentage of overnight arrivals from different market regions:

Hotel occupancy           

The average hotel occupancy rate across all categories of hotels in 2009 was 78%, seven percentage points lower than in 2008. Occupancy for top-tariff hotels averaged 72% in 2009, a seven-percentage-point decrease over the year before, while those in the second and third tiers reached 81% and 80%, as compared with 87% and 86% the previous year. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories and districts in 2009 was US$131.15, representing a 16.3% decrease year-on-year.