Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for H1 2009

Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached 13,696,779 in the first six months of 2009, a decrease of 3.4% over the same period last year.

January to June 2009 Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals

Among various regional source markets, Mainland China achieved positive growth of 4.6% to 8.26 million arrivals in the first six months of 2009.

Overall, arrivals from the short-haul regions decreased by a marginal 1.3%, with North Asia showing a 25.4% decline, as outbound travel in both Japan and South Korea was affected by the weak economy, and further hurt by the human Swine Flu.

Arrivals from Taiwan also dropped by 13.1%, as the impact of cross-strait direct links became more and more apparent.

For the long-haul regions, demand for travel remained weak amid the economic downturn. As a result, arrivals dipped by 14%.

Commenting on the half-yearly performance, Hong Kong Tourism Board Chairman Mr James Tien said, “Hong Kong managed to achieve growth of 1.5% in overall arrivals in the first four months of this year, with Mainland China registering increase of more than 10%. The positive trend was, however, reversed in May and June, following the outbreak of human swine flu, leading to decline of arrivals from both long- and short-haul regions by more than 10% to 20% in those two months. In view of the current market sentiments, we expect the decline will likely continue into July and August.”

“To reduce the arrivals shortfall, the HKTB has already strengthened our promotions in Mainland China and short-haul markets this summer, and is strongly spreading the message that the quarantine policy is off in Hong Kong,” Mr Tien said.

Overnight v Same-Day, in-Town Visitors

Overall, some 54.2% of all visitors to Hong Kong in June stayed in the city for at least one night, 4.3 percentage points lower than in the same month last year. The remaining 45.8% same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day they arrived.

From January to June 2009, close to 7.82 million or 57.1% of total arrivals stayed in the city for at least one night, compared with 58.2% in the same period last year. The remaining 5.88 million (42.9%) were classified as same-day in-town visitors.

Hotel Occupancy

Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels in June 2009 was 61%, 20 percentage points lower than in June 2008.

The geographic locations with the highest occupancy were Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, where hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 71%.

The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$901, 20.2% lower than in June 2008.

From January to June 2009, hotel occupancy across all categories of hotel was 74%, as compared with 83% in the same months of last year.

The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,026, 17.1% below that of the same period in 2008.

“We will continue to reinforce our promotions in the coming few months, and have already made plans to roll out a series of mega events, so that we can further enhance Hong Kong’s appeal and create a business platform for our tourism-related sectors,” added Mr Tien.

See also: Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for May 2009, June 2008

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