Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for February 2008

Hong Kong visitor arrivals in February 2008 reached 2,352,456 a 2.9% increase over the same month in 2007. This brings cumulative arrivals for the first two months of 2008 to 4,871,022, 9.4% ahead of the same period last year.

Sustaining their robust performance, all three long-haul market regions achieved double-digit gain in February 2008. As for the short-haul regions, both North Asia and South and Southeast Asia registered growth of about 20%.

Arrivals from different market regions in February 2008:

• Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific: 47,628 (+26.2%)
• North Asia: 190,683 (+20.7%)
• Europe, Africa and the Middle East: 154,789 (+20.1%)
• South and Southeast Asia: 169,412 (+19.5%)
• The Americas: 114,029 (+14.1%)
• Mainland China: 1,442,302 (-2.6%)
• Taiwan: 178,018 (-5.6%)

Strong growth was recorded in various high-potential markets, such as South Korea (+50.1%) and the Philippines (+12.9%), as well as in the emerging market of Russia (+46.9%) and India (+10.8%).

Out of the total Mainland arrivals in February 2008, 855,331 or 59.3% arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), 6.9% less than last February.

Some 59% of all visitors to Hong Kong in February stayed in the city for at least one night, three percentage points lower than for the same month last year. The remaining 41% same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day as arrival.

Taiwan continued to have the highest percentage – at least seven out of every 10 – of same-day arrivals, as many visitors travelled en-route to the Mainland or other destinations. Meanwhile, Taiwanese visitors have been making use of the direct ferry services from Hong Kong International Airport’s SkyPier to Pearl River Delta destinations, without passing through Hong Kong immigration.

The 42.2% of visitors from the Mainland who left Hong Kong on the same day of arrival in February 2008 represent a 4.6 percentage-point increase year-on-year, as the Individual Visit Scheme has made it more convenient for Mainland visitors to make short, consumption visits to Hong Kong. As a result, the average per capita spending and overall contribution to total tourism receipts by Mainland same-day arrivals have been on the increasing trend.

February 2008 Hotel Occupancy

Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels in February 2008 was 80%, the same as in February 2007. The geographic location with the highest occupancy was, as always, Yau Ma Tei / Mong Kok, where hotels recorded occupancy rate of 84%. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,132, 10.6% higher than in February 2007.

See also: Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for January 2008 and other recent news regarding: Travel News Asia, Hong Kong, Visitor Arrivals