Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals from Mainland China up 9.5% during National Day Golden Week Holidays

Hong Kong visitor arrivals from Mainland China during this year’s National Day Golden Week holidays (29 September to 5 October) reached 481,987, an impressive 9.5% more than that of the equivalent period (1-7 October) last year.

Out of the total Mainland arrivals during the Golden Week, 70% or 336,441 arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme, 14% more than last year. The number of visitors joining group tours to Hong Kong also increased by 24.7% to 30,007.

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Chairman Mr James Tien said that the increase in Mainland arrivals during the Golden Week could mainly be attributed to the pent-up demand following the Olympics. “Looking ahead, the recent financial tsunami, economic slowdown and rising inflation will inevitably dampen consumers’ travel sentiments and affect the Hong Kong and global tourism markets,” he remarked. “The HKTB has already re-deployed its marketing resources from the long-haul to short-haul markets. Over the next few months, we’ll step up promotions in such markets as Mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and India to drive visitor arrivals to Hong Kong.”

To encourage visits by Mainland travellers during the Golden Week, the HKTB collaborated with the travel trade on tactical promotions and travel packages under different themes earlier on. As well as the ever-popular National Day Fireworks packages, the HKTB introduced packages themed after Halloween this year. For the first time, the HKTB is making use of the Halloween window to promote visits to Hong Kong, targeting the young segment in such Mainland cities as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai. The HKTB also made use of Mainland’s popular travel portal mango city to launch its promotions, aside from arranging newspaper advertisements and feature articles and promotion by travel agents.

See also: Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for August 2008 and other recent news regarding: Travel News Asia, Promotions, New Hotels, Hong Kong, Visitor Arrivals, Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals