Hong Kong Visitor Arrival figures for April 2003

As expected, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong fell dramatically in April 2003 in the wake of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, figures issued today (29 May) by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) confirm.

Total arrivals in the month were only 493,666, a 64.8% fall compared with the 1.40 million arrivals welcomed in April 2002. It is the lowest monthly figure recorded since February 1991, at the height of the Gulf War.

All markets showed a severe downturn, most by 80% or more, following the advisory against non-essential travel to Hong Kong made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 2 April. Arrivals from Mainland China, however, fell by a more modest 38.7%. 

While warmly welcoming the WHO's decision to lift the travel advisory on 23 May, HKTB Executive Director Clara Chong warned that it could be several months before arrivals started to regain their previous momentum. "All the current indications are that the May downturn will be even more marked than that of April," she noted. "Due to the ban on tours to Hong Kong and overseas imposed by the Central Government, we have also lost much of the Mainland market during May.

"The fact that WHO has also lifted its advisory against Guangdong is encouraging, though, as we hope this will allow the authorities to start withdrawing the ban on Mainland tours very soon, perhaps area by area," Ms Chong added.

"We do not expect to see much growth in arrivals until the fourth quarter of 2003. It will take time and patience to rebuild visitors' confidence in travelling to Hong Kong and the Asia region."

Ms Chong said that the first stage in Hong Kong's efforts to entice business and leisure visitors back to Hong Kong must be one of reassurance. "We need to spread the message that life in Hong Kong is back to normal, and that its standards of hygiene and healthcare are stronger than ever," she explained. "To help achieve this, the HKTB will invite travel trade and media representatives from all over the world - people who can play a critical role in shaping consumer perceptions - to come and see the situation for themselves.

"It is also essential that everyone in the community remains vigilant in observing precautionary and preventive measures throughout this rebuilding period, to ensure that there is no recurrence of the infection and that all parties worldwide give Hong Kong a completely clean bill of health," Ms Chong emphasised.

Ms Chong said that the first phase of the HKTB's comeback campaign would include limited tactical promotions to test the receptiveness of different markets, as it was likely that some source markets would be ready earlier than others to reconsider Hong Kong as a destination. "Once we receive a positive response from each market, we can then launch larger-scale promotional campaigns to lure early arrivals with some highly attractive offers," she explained.

Cumulative Arrivals, January to April 2003

Despite the severely depressed April figures, cumulative arrivals for the first four months of 2003 remain only marginally down from the same period in 2002, showing -4.0% negative growth. This is due to strongly positive growth (+28.6%) during the pre-SARS period in January and February. Arrivals from the Mainland are still 28.0% ahead of those for January to April 2002, but all other markets are now showing negative overall growth.

Same-Day Visitors

In April 2003, 44.7% of all visitors continued to other destinations on the same day as arrival, compared with only 37.1% for the same month in 2002. The likely reason for this increase is that many of those visitors who still came, especially short-haul business visitors, preferred to stay in Hong Kong for no longer than necessary. Some 92.3% of all visitors from Taiwan left again on the same day as arrival. In contrast, however, 67.8% of visitors from Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific and 66.5% of those from The Americas stayed for one night or longer.

For the first four months of 2003 to date, 62.4% of all visitors have stayed for one night or longer, compared with 64.3% over the same period in 2002. 

Hotel Occupancy

Average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels and tourist guest houses in April was 22%, compared with 87% in April 2002. Hotels in the top tariff category were the most severely affected by the downturn, averaging only 14% occupancy compared with 81% a year earlier.

However, the true impact of SARS on the hotel sector is likely to have been even greater, as hotel occupancy rates are based on the average number of rooms available for the given period. A number of hotels have closed entire floors of their properties to reduce operational costs, or taken advantage of the downturn to bring forward renovation programmes. Both actions reduce available room supply.

In April 2003, occupancy rates were based on 31,543 available rooms, which represents 82.2% of a total inventory of 38,352 rooms. This is 14.4% less than the figure for April 2002.

Cumulatively, occupancy for the first four months of 2003 now stands at 67%, compared with 82% for the same period in 2002.