Hong Kong tourist arrivals hit 60.8 million
Hong Kong:Tourist arrivals in Hong Kong increased 12 percent to 60.8 million last year – up on an estimate made last February that there would be 59 million visitors and despite uncertainty created by the Occupy protests.
The total included 47.2 million from the mainland, an increase of 16 percent from the year before, according to preliminary Tourism Board figures.
For the first time, South Korea replaced Japan as Hong Kong’s third-biggest tourism market. The mainland and Taiwan came in first and second.
The growth in mainland figures was driven by Shenzhen permanent residents who used their Hong Kong multiple-entry permits to make more trips to the city.
Arrivals of other Asian visitors rose in the first three quarters of last year, but the increase was countered by a fall in the last quarter due to the Occupy protests.
A sluggish economic outlook in Europe continued to affect long-haul arrivals, leaving the biggest growth potential in Southeast Asia, according to the board’s executive director Anthony Lau Chun-hon.
To boost demand for travel during the Lunar New Year holidays next month, the statutory body is sending a delegation of about 10 representatives from the retail, tour agency and hotel sectors to Beijing, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The marketing campaign includes discounted plane tickets, new tour itineraries and promotions. Three airlines will offer return tickets from Taiwan priced at HK$500, excluding tax. The promotion began last week and the travel period runs until the Lunar New Year.
“We will spread the message that tear gas and the Occupy movement are over,” said board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok.
Meanwhile, the board said Hong Kong had risen in popularity among South Koreans. For the first time ever, more South Koreans than Japanese came to Hong Kong last year.
In the first 11 months of last year, the city received more than 1.1 million South Koreans, an increase of almost 17 per cent from the year before. The country beat Japan in terms of the absolute number of visitors as well as the growth rate. Over the same period, growth in the number of tourists from Japan was just 3.5 percent.
Thanks to the Korean cultural boom, South Korean television stations invest a lot in their programmes and do not hesitate to film their shows overseas – including in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong is a hot filming location for their programs,” Lau said.
Popular South Korean variety program Running Man was invited to Hong Kong, which saw stars go on a treasure hunt across the city. This year, the board has asked Witch Hunt, a variety program about dating, to record a session here.
Jan 2015
