Hong Kong visitor arrivals for the month of
April 2010 amounted to 2,796,311, a year-on-year increase of
Total arrivals from January to April this
year accumulated to 11,420,999, 16% higher than last year’s figure
for the same period. For the first time ever, visitor arrivals
exceeded the 10-million mark within the first four months of a
In April, Mainland China continued to be Hong
Kong’s leading source market and sustained double-digit increase
in visitor arrivals as a result of persistent economic growth and
strong travel and consumption sentiments in the Mainland.
Other short-haul markets also recorded growth of
almost 15%. The performance of North Asia and South and Southeast
Asia was especially notable. As the global economic environment
improves and business activities pick up, the number of business
travellers has increased, leading to a rise in arrivals from the
regions. In particular, arrivals from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia
and Thailand registered growth that ranged from 15% to almost 30%.
In South Korea, the appreciation of the Won currency created
stronger propensity to travel, causing arrivals from the country
to surge by almost 30% this April.
Meanwhile, the emerging markets continued their
upward growth trend. While increased flight capacity has driven up
visitor arrivals from India by 65.5% in April, the gain in the
Middle East (+22.6%) resulted from better economic conditions and
travel sentiments. For Russia, the phenomenal increase of 108.5%
was owed to the positive impact of visa-free arrangement and the
relatively lower base for comparison.
As for the long-haul markets, most market
regions registered steady growth compared to the same period in
2009. Notwithstanding the eruption of
volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland, which incapacitated air
traffic in various European countries for a short period of time,
there was no major impact on the overall arrivals from the related
source markets in April.
This April, overnight visitors accounted for
56.4%, or 1,577,591 out of all visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,
which represented a 14% increase compared to April last year.
Overnight visitors from most market regions rose by at least 10%,
with particularly outstanding performance in Mainland China
(+17.6%) and such other short-haul markets as South Korea
(+27.1%), India (+61.5%) and Indonesia (+28%).
For the first four months of this year,
overnight visitors made up 56.2% of all visitors to Hong Kong,
reaching 6,418,030 and representing a 13%-rise compared to the
figure in the same period last year. Among the major market
regions, Taiwan experienced the most significant increase in
overnight arrivals at 20.4%, reflecting a rise of vacation
visitors from the island.
Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels
in April 2010 was 86%, 7 percentage points higher than in
2009. Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok were the geographic locations with
the highest occupancy rate, which averaged 91%. The average
achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,239,
15.2% higher than in the same month last year. Cumulatively,
occupancy rate for the first four months of this year was 85%.
Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals in April 2009 and
Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals in March 2010
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