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Hong Kong's tourism figures have continued their strong start to 2002, with arrivals growing 15.3% for the month of February.
The main factor was a surge in the number of visitors from Mainland China over the Lunar New Year, boosted by the abolition of tour group quotas at the beginning of this year and a large increase in the number of Mainland agents licensed to offer Hong Kong tours.
The total number of Mainland visitors in February soared to 471,528, an astonishing 70.2% increase compared with the same month in 2001. Arrivals from Taiwan also showed encouraging growth of 6.7%.
Some markets showed a marginal decline compared with the February 2001 figures but this can be attributed to Lunar New Year falling in February this year and in January last year. Hong Kong is always a popular destination with Mainland and Taiwan visitors during this period, when they can take advantage of a full week's holiday to enjoy the festivities in Hong Kong or join relatives and friends. On the other hand, visitors from other markets tend to be fewer, as there is much less business traffic at this time.
Announcing the figures today (3 April), Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Executive Director Clara Chong said that overall, the picture remained quite encouraging. "The results for the first two months of 2002 are very much in line with our observations," she said.
"We certainly anticipated a surge in Mainland arrivals - although 70% in February is remarkable by any standards - and modest growth from Taiwan over the Lunar New Year. At the same time, we knew that certain markets would make a gradual recovery to a level of performance which was existing pre-911," Ms Chong continued. "We expect these markets to move back into positive growth as the year progresses. Others markets such as Japan and parts of Asia may take longer due to prevailing economic conditions."
Analysis by Markets
Taking January and February together, the picture is clearer. Total arrivals now show a 12.8% increase, at 2,296,393, with Mainland China (+43.0%) remaining at the forefront.
Arrivals from Taiwan are showing 1.2% growth compared with the first two months of 2001, but there are small decreases in total arrivals from Europe, Africa & the Middle East (-0.9%), The Americas (-2.2%), South & Southeast Asia (-3.0%), North Asia (-4.4%) and Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific (-6.0%). Individual countries showing the most percentage growth were South Korea (79,943, +19.6%); India (21,172, +12.5%); Malaysia, (39,309, +12.1%), The Philippines (37,473, +6.6%), and France (18,437, +6.5%).
Attractive four-day, three-night Lunar New Year packages offered by Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines were a factor stimulating the Malaysia's performance in February, while South Korean arrivals were boosted by publicity dispelling misconceptions that shops and attractions in Hong Kong were closed during the period. Travellers from The Philippines took advantage of a price war on the Hong Kong route between Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific and attractive packages for the holiday period offered at the Travel Tour Fair in early February.
In contrast, arrivals in February from Singapore (23,830, -10.3%), Japan (93,815, -24.4%) both fell in the wake of dampened economic sentiment.
Same-Day Visitors
During February 2002, 36% of all visitors left for other destinations on the same day; for January and February combined, the figure was 35.4%. This compares with 34.2% for the first two months of 2001. It is worth noting that the percentage of same-day visitors from Mainland China, however, decreased slightly for the two-month period to 29.9%, compared with 30.5% last year.
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