Hong Kong Tourism Board reports February 2005 Visitor Arrival Figures

Hong Kong’s tourism industry enjoyed further healthy growth in February 2005 with a total of 1,745,133 visitor arrivals. This is comfortably the best February result on record, surpassing the 1.45 million arrivals in February 2004 by over 290,000, or 20.0%.

While this strong performance alone cannot provide a reliable benchmark of the underlying growth trend for 2005, as the Chinese New Year holiday fell in January last year but February this year, a clearer picture can now be seen by taking the January and February figures together. This shows that total arrivals for the year to date stand at 3,638,211, growth of 13.6% on the first two months of 2004.

Moreover, all long- and short-haul market regions are now showing positive growth over the first two months of this year, notably North Asia (+43.9%), South and Southeast Asia (+32.6%), Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific (+28.6%), the Americas (+16.5%) and Europe, Africa and the Middle East (+13.6%). Taiwan shows encouraging growth of 9.6% after a difficult year in 2004 while Mainland China growth stands at 8.6%.

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Executive Director Clara Chong said that although Chinese New Year generally saw a slowing-down of business travel, it was becoming a more and more popular time to visit Hong Kong for leisure, as evidenced by double-digit growth in key markets including the Philippines, the UK, Singapore, South Korea, the US and Australia during the 10-day celebration period (9-18 February). This is due to the growing reputation of the International Chinese New Year Parade and the determined efforts of the HKTB and its trade partners to package the festive activities attractively to family travellers worldwide.

“This year, we welcomed more than 707,000 arrivals over the 10 days of Lunar New Year, an outright record for the celebrations and an increase of 14.5% on the equivalent holiday period in 2004,” she said. “This demonstrates that our initiatives to use the New Year celebrations to drive arrivals growth are paying off, with Mainland China developments like the Individual Visit Scheme providing further impetus to this traditional peak Golden Week holiday period.”

Ms Chong also noted that although the differing months of Chinese New Year in 2004 and 2005 had created sharp fluctuations between January and February growth rates in certain markets, others had performed well in both months. “We are especially pleased with the results from South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and Canada, which have shown consistent growth since the start of this year,” she said.

Analysis by Markets, February and January/February 2005

Generally the Lunar New Year month is a low season for business travel to Hong Kong but a peak period for leisure traffic, particularly from markets like Mainland China where residents enjoy a long “Golden Week” holiday. In keeping with this, arrivals from markets such as the Mainland and Taiwan showed strong February growth after quiet months in January, whereas the reverse applied in such markets as North America and Europe, which have a high element of business travel.

February arrivals from Mainland China reached 1,041,061, 26.2% growth on the same month in 2004. Of these, 496,932 arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme – 47.7% of the total, which is the highest proportion to date in any month since the scheme’s launch in July 2003. In total, Hong Kong has now welcomed 2,106,548 Mainland visitors so far this year, growth of 8.6% on 2004, including 963,593 (45.7% of the total) travelling as individuals. Given the very high visitor base achieved in 2004 from the Mainland, this further increase in the first two months of 2005 represents a significant increment.

Taiwan contributed 181,479 arrivals in February, growth of 25.1%. Total 2005 arrivals from this market now stand at 345,662, 9.6% ahead of the first two months of 2004. 

Arrivals from South and Southeast Asia were 16.3% up in February at 133,427, with especially strong growth seen from key leisure travel markets like the Philippines (+35.5%), Thailand (+35.4%), Malaysia (+32.8%) and Singapore (+27.3%), where a range of attractive packages and promotions continue to boost traffic to Hong Kong. Over the first two months of 2005, total arrivals from this region show 32.6% growth at 297,950.

North Asia is showing perhaps the most encouraging performance of all regions, with 26.7% growth in February (135,837 arrivals) on top of a 61.4% increase in January, for aggregate growth of 43.9% (305,437 arrivals). South Korea (+33.9% over the two months) is maintaining the momentum of its record-breaking result last year, while arrivals from Japan are now bouncing back strongly after a challenging year in 2004.

In the long-haul markets, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific continues to be the leading performer. February arrivals were a modest 6.5% ahead of the same month in 2004 at 32,868, but following a 48.1% growth in January, total arrivals for the year to date now stand 28.6% ahead at 84,420. While the fall in business visitors has made Chinese New Year a traditionally low travel period from this region, the rise in February 2005 arrivals over the previous year is a clear reflection of the HKTB’s efforts to promote leisure travel to Hong Kong during the festivities. 

February arrivals from Europe, Africa and the Middle East were 11.1% down at 92,546, but this region’s stronger-than-usual January growth of 44.6% means that total year-to-date arrivals are 13.6% up at 212,564, with key markets like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy all showing double-digit increases.

Arrivals from The Americas (89,425) were 3.6% down in February compared with the same month in 2004, although Canada bucked the trend with 8.4% growth, partly due to the many ethnic Chinese Canadians returning to their families in Hong Kong or China for the Lunar New Year. Over the first two months of 2005, arrivals from this region are now showing 16.5% growth at 209,787.

Same-Day In-Town Visitors

In February, 64.1% of all visitors stayed one night or longer, compared with only 61.6% for the same month in 2004. This can be attributed to the higher percentage of leisure visitors staying overnight in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year celebrations, especially from around the Asia region. Reflecting this trend, the significantly higher 67.4% percent of overnight visitors from the Mainland was similar to the 68% achieved in January 2004, when the Lunar New Year holidays occurred. Similarly,  the greater percentage of overnight visitors from North Asia (66.4%) and Taiwan (29.3%) compared to February 2004 was likely due to the decrease in cross-boundary business traffic to the Mainland via the Skypier.

The remaining 35.9% of all February arrivals were classified as “same-day in-town” visitors, departing for another destination on the same day as arrival, a trend that reflects Hong Kong’s increasing importance as a regional transport hub.

For the first two months of 2005, 64.2% of all visitors have stayed for one night or longer, compared with 63.3% in 2004.

Hotel Occupancy

The average occupancy across all categories of hotels and tourist guest houses reached 77% in February. This is just one percentage point below the figure achieved during the similar month of January 2004, and partly reflects an increased supply of some 3,200 hotel rooms during the intervening period. The highest occupancy was achieved in the Causeway Bay and Wan Chai district, at 79%, followed by Tsim Sha Tsui on 78%. The average achieved hotel room rate was HK$799, a growth of almost 16% on the 2004 figure.

See also: HKTB sets target of 22.9 Million Visitor Arrivals for 2005

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