Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals for November 2011

Hong Kong visitor arrivals reached 37,770,230 in the first 11 months of 2011.

 The impressive figure not only represents a 16.3%-increase compared to the equivalent period in 2010, but has also surpassed the yearly total of 2010. In November alone, arrivals rose by 16.4% year-on-year to 3,552,733, making it the November with the highest number of visitor arrivals in record.

In November, arrivals from Mainland China surged by 24.8% year-on-year to beyond 2.3 million, as consumers’ travel and consumption sentiments remained strong. Of these, 63.9% or around 1.5 million made their trip on the Individual Visit Scheme, a rise of 27.6% over November 2010. Cumulatively, Mainland arrivals climbed up by 23.8% to a historic high of over 25 million, surpassing the 12-month total of 2010.

Among the short-haul market regions, North Asia achieved the best performance in November, with arrivals from the region moved up by 6.9% to over 200,000. Specifically, Japanese arrivals sustained the positive trend of October as outbound travel sentiments improved, growing by 5.9% to nearly 120,000 during the month. For South Korea, the market maintained its steady upward trend, registering more than 80,000 arrivals or an 8.4%-increase year-on-year. From January-November, arrivals from North Asia grew by 4.0% to over 2 million.

Southeast Asia also saw moderate growth in November, with total arrivals rising by 7.9% year-on-year to nearly 300,000. In terms of individual markets, Singapore and the Philippines recorded double-digit growth in arrivals, whereas Thailand showed decrease of 10.7% due to the recent flooding in the country. In the first 11 months, overall Southeast Asian arrivals went up by 9.4% to exceed 2.8 million, with double-digit increase for Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

As for Taiwan, arrivals declined by 2.3% in November to slightly below 160,000. Cumulatively, arrivals from the island were similar to last year’s level at around 2 million. Among these, the higher-spending overnight visitors rose by 9.3% to surpass 710,000, taking up 36.0% of the total arrivals.

In the long-haul regions, arrivals went up by 1.4% to more than 450,000 in November. The Americas performed the best, with some 170,000 arrivals or a 6.9%-increase. In particular, arrivals from the US and Canada increased by 7.3% and 5.7% respectively as a result of increased vacation visitors. In the first 11 months of 2011, overall long-haul arrivals rose by 1.5% to more than 4.38 million.

Overnight arrivals to Hong Kong reached 1.87 million or 52.9% of all arrivals, a 13.1%-increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, same-day arrivals leaped up by 20.3% to exceed 1.67 million.

In the first 11 months of 2011, overnight arrivals increased by 11.1% to 20.12 million, accounting for 53.3% of all arrivals. As for same-day arrivals, these increased by 22.7% to some 17.64 million.

On 20 December 2011, another new milestone was achieved for Hong Kong’s tourism, as the city received its first 40-millionth visitor of a single year, Ms Nancy Ryan from the US.

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