Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals Between January and September 2012

Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong between January and September 2012 increased 16.3% year-on-year to reach 35.37 million.

Of these, 17.41 million were overnight arrivals, 6.8% more than last year, while the number of overnight vacationers rose 7.9%.

Commenting on the performance, Hong Kong Tourism Board Chairman The Hon James Tien said, “Despite the uncertain global economic environment, which has impacted overall business arrivals and the performance of individual markets, total visitor arrivals to Hong Kong showed double-digit growth in the first three quarters of this year. Besides benefiting from the growth in the Mainland market, we are also seeing increase in vacation arrivals from both short-haul and long-haul market regions, with growth rates for North Asia and Europe, for instance, reaching 12.5% and 7.5% respectively.

“For the Mainland market, overnight arrivals went up more than 10% in the first three quarters. In particular, the number of overnight vacationers increased 12.3%, with those from non-Guangdong areas up almost 24%. In recent years, the HKTB has intensified its promotion in non-Southern China. Of the marketing resources allocated for the Mainland market, the HKTB has invested over 75% on non-Southern China, so that we can open new visitor sources in second- and third-tier cities. Indeed, between 2009 and 2011, the compound average growth rate of overnight vacationers from non-Guangdong cities reached 35%, as compared to 15% of Guangdong Province. The spending by the non-Guangdong visitors is also higher, exceeding HK$12,000 per capita in the first half of 2012, as compared to some HK$5,000 by visitors from Guangdong.

“Looking into the fourth quarter, we expect the steady growth to sustain, and that we can achieve the yearly target of 44 million arrivals. The HKTB will continue its strategy of diversifying the visitor portfolio and roll out a series of mega events to enhance Hong Kong’s appeal and international exposure,” added The Hon James Tien.

Analysis of Market Performance in First Three Quarters of 2012

Mainland arrivals went up 24.2% year-on-year to 25,326,528. Of these, 66.2% or 16,771,929 came on the Individual Visit Scheme, representing a 26.4% increase over last year. As for those Shenzhen residents who made their visits with the multiple-entry visa, the number increased 58.8% year-on-year to about 7 million.

For the short-haul markets, overall arrivals remained at a similar level as that of last year. Reasons accounting for this include: the 3/11 earthquake and related incident of Japan last year caused many visitors in the region, such as those from Taiwan, to switch from Japan to Hong Kong, leading to a greater base of arrivals and in turn relatively lower growth rate this year. In addition, the closing down of Kingfisher airline caused flight capacity and arrivals from India to decline.

Among all the short-haul market regions, North Asia, which achieved growth of 6.3% or 1.8 million visitor arrivals, was the best performer. Over half (1 million) of these arrivals came from Japan, 7.0% more than last year, with overnight arrivals up 10.3%. The remaining 800,000-plus arrivals from South Korea represented growth of 5.4% year-on-year, while the growth rate of overnight arrivals (over 540,000) was even higher at 7.3%.

For Southeast Asia, arrivals reached almost 2.25 million, more or less the same as the figure of the corresponding period last year. The Philippines reaped the best results with 11.4% and 12.1% increase in its overall and overnight arrivals respectively.

As above-mentioned, the 311 earthquake created a larger base for comparison for Taiwanese arrivals. As a result, arrivals from the island decreased 4.6% year-on-year to 1.56 million. Cross-strait direct flights also contributed to the decline.

In the long-haul markets, notwithstanding the unresolved European sovereign debt crisis, which impacted business arrivals, overall long-haul overnight vacation arrivals increased 4.2% to more than 1.33 million. The UK contributed some 380,000 arrivals (+5.1%), of which over 80% stayed overnight. Arrivals from the emerging market of Russia also showed a marked increase of 48.9% to 130,000.

Overnight Visitors vs Same-day, In-Town Visitors

Of all arrivals to Hong Kong, 49.2% or about 17.41 million stayed overnight, representing an increase of 6.8%. Meanwhile, same-day arrivals went up 27.2% to 18 million, about 80% (14.23 million) of which came from Mainland China.

See also: Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals in September 2011 and Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals in September 2010

See other recent news regarding: Travel News Asia, RevPAR, Interviews, Pictures, Sports Tourism, Videos, Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals, Hong Kong