Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for 2008

Hong Kong’s visitor arrivals for 2008 totalled 29,506,616, an increase of 4.7% on the 28.17 million arrivals welcomed in 2007.

Leading the growth among various market regions was Mainland China, from where arrivals reached 16,862,003, 8.9% more than in 2007 and 57.1% of the 2008 total. Of these, 9,619,280 arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), 57% of the total and 11.9% more than in 2007. In contrast to the Mainland, non-Mainland arrivals registered slight drop of 0.3% to 12,644,613, with the decrease more prominent in the long-haul regions.

Market Regions 2008 Visitor Arrivals Growth over 2007

Mainland China 16,862,003 +8.9%
South and Southeast Asia 2,936,207 +1.7%
North Asia 2,229,117 +1.3%
Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific 763,206 +0.8%
Taiwan 2,240,481 +0.1%
Europe, Africa and the Middle East 2,094,039 -4.4%
The Americas 1,684,734 -5.5%

Of the 29,506,616 visitors who came to the city in 2008, almost 17.32 million (58.7%) stayed overnight, 2.2 percentage points fewer than the 60.9% who did so in 2007. The remaining 12.19 million were classified as “same-day in-town” visitors, departing for another destination on the same day as arrival.

Taiwan continued to have the highest percentage of same-day in-town visitors at 71%, as many visitors travelled en-route to the Mainland or other destinations. Most long-haul visitors however stayed for at least one night in 2008.

As for Mainland China, the 55.6% of visitors from the Mainland who stayed overnight represent a 3.1-percentage-point fall compared with 2007, as it has become an established trend for many Mainland visitors, especially those from southern China, to make short, consumption visits to Hong Kong via the IVS.

Hotel occupancy averaged 90% in December 2008, as compared with 93% in December 2007. For the full year 2008, the average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels was 85%. This is one percentage point lower over the previous year.

Occupancy for top-tariff hotels averaged 79% in 2008, a five-percentage-point decrease over 2007, while those in the second and third tiers reached 87% and 86%, as compared with 88% and 86% in the previous year. Hotels in Yau Ma Tei / Mong Kok continued to achieve the highest average occupancy over the year, at 88%.

The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories and districts in 2008 was HK$1,222, a 0.6% improvement on the 2007 figure.

See also: Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for October 2008 and other recent news regarding: Travel News Asia, Hong Kong, Visitor Arrivals, Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals