Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for September 2006

Hong Kong’s visitor arrivals in September 2006 was 1,830,189 million, which is 2.4% more than in the same month in 2005. Cumulative arrivals for the first nine months of 2006 now stand at 18,571,976, a 9.5% increase compared with the previous year.

More than 1.10 million arrivals (60.3% of the total) in September stayed in Hong Kong for at least one night, with the remainder of over 725,000 (39.7%) classified as same-day in-town visitors. This takes the cumulative January-September total for overnight visitors to more than 11.65 million (62.7%), while over 6.92 million (37.3%) left on the day of arrival.

Arrivals from key regional source markets were as follows:

- Mainland China: 930,532 visitors (a 0.6% increase)
- Taiwan: 166,143 (-2.9%)
- South and Southeast Asia: 188,642 (9.5%)
- North Asia: 168,761 (2%)
- Europe, Africa and the Middle East: 151,650 (8.8%)
- The Americas: 120,522 (2%), and
- Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific: 61,949 (6.4%).

Visitors from Mainland China represented 50.8% of the September arrivals. Of these, 427,026 travelled under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), 45.9% of the Mainland total, and 14.9% more than in the same month last year.

September 2006 Arrivals by Markets

The 930,532 arrivals from the Mainland in September took the total for the first nine months of 2006 to more than 10.19 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.1%. The number of arrivals to Hong Kong in September travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) reached more than 427,000, 45.9% of the total, representing 14.9% growth over the same month in 2005. This took cumulative January-September IVS arrivals to more than 4.98 million, 48.9% of visitors from the Mainland. 

The 166,143 arrivals from Taiwan in September brought the nine-month total from the island to 1,638,821, a 3.1% increase.

September arrivals from South and Southeast Asia numbered 188,642, which took the January-September total to 1,841,074, a 10.8% increase. Individual markets in the region showing the strongest September growth were Malaysia (19.2%), India (15.3%) and Singapore (10.9%).

North Asian arrivals in September reached 168,761, which included 116,977 visitors from Japan, an increase of 3.1%, and 51,784 from South Korea, a marginal decline of 0.5%. Cumulative arrivals for January-September numbered 1,476,358, 8.6% more than in 2005, with Japanese arrivals up by 8.8% and those from South Korea by 8.3%.

The 151,650 (8.8%) arrivals from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the best-performing long-haul market region in September, took the cumulative nine-monthly total to 1,341,445, a 9.8% increase. Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific’s 61,949 visitors brought the January-September total to 484,842, a 7.1% increase, while the Americas’ 120,522 visitors took cumulative arrivals from the region to 1,169,928, up 4.1%.

September 2006 Same-Day In-Town Visitors

Some 60.3% of all visitors to Hong Kong in September stayed in the city for at least one night, which is 0.8 of a percentage point lower than for the same month last year. The remaining 39.7% were same-day in-town visitors who either returned home or left for another destination on the same day as arrival. 

Between January and September 2006, 62.7% of all visitors stayed for one night or more, 0.4 of a percentage point lower than for the first nine months of 2005.

September 2006 Hotel Occupancy

Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels and tourist guesthouses in September was 82%. This is identical to the figure for September 2005, despite the 1.9% increase in Hong Kong’s hotel-room supply in the intervening 12 months. 

The geographic locations with the highest occupancies in September were Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei/Mong Kok, where hotels recorded rates of 85%.

The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,132, 16.0% higher than in September 2005.

The average occupancy across all categories of hotels and tourist guesthouses for January-September 2006 is 86%, two percentage points higher than in the same period in 2005. The average achieved room rate across all hotel categories is HK$1,028, 16.3% higher than in the first nine months of 2005.

See also: Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for August 2006

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