Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals Down 14.2% in 2019

According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), 55.9 million people visited the city in 2019.

Arrivals in the first half-year of the year increased by 13.9%, but the number of visitors started to fall in July when the increasingly violent protests became more frequent leading to a decline of -39.1% in the second half of the year.

The full-year arrivals were down -14.2% year-on-year.

All source markets recorded a decline of visitors in 2019. The Mainland and short-haul markets recorded a drop of -14.2% and -18.7%, respectively, while long-haul markets and new markets fell -12.7% and -13.5%, respectively.

Overnight visitors in 2019 also declined by -18.8% to 23.76 million.

HKTB Chairman, Dr YK Pang, said, “Hong Kong’s tourism industry has faced exceptional challenges over the past year, but I have every confidence in our resilience and appeal as a world-class travel destination. The HKTB has already launched promotions in a number of short-haul markets, including India, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand, and we will soon extend those promotions to other markets such as Japan and long-haul markets. Meanwhile, we are working tirelessly on a major global promotion that will rebuild Hong Kong’s tourism image and help our tourism industry recover.”

See also: Did Strength of Thai Baht Affect Number of Arrivals from UK in 2019? Interview with TAT.

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