Bangkok--8 Oct--Francom Asia
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced that visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached 2,834,178 in August 2009. The table below summarises arrivals from different market regions:
August 2009 Visitor Arrivals
Reversing the downward trend in the previous three months, visitor arrivals in August increased by 5.8% year-on-year. The increase owed to the lower base of arrivals during the Olympics in August 2008, when visits by long-haul travellers were impacted by the Mainland visa policy adjustment, while many from the Mainland stayed home for the Olympic Games.
In August 2009, all long-haul market regions achieved positive gain, when compared with the substantial shortfall in the equivalent period last year. These included The Americas and Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which registered increase of 9.7% and 10.4% respectively.
As for the short-haul regions, North Asia continued to be affected by the decrease in outbound travel in South Korea. Nevertheless, the gap has narrowed from -34.1% in May 2009 to -10.1% in August 2009. Similarly, Taiwan continued the downward trend owing to the impact of cross-strait direct links. The shortfall has, however, narrowed to a single-digit 3.7%. On the other hand, Mainland China recorded year-on-year increase of 9.2%, as consumers’ sentiment to travel improved.
Cumulative Arrivals for January-August 2009
From January to August 2009, total visitor arrivals reached 18,909,255, 3.4% lower than the same period last year. With the exception of Mainland China, which achieved positive gain of 2.6% in its arrivals year-to-date, all other long- and short-haul markets continued to show negative growth. For the long-haul regions, the cumulative arrivals decreased by 10.1% year-on-year to 2,699,633. As for the short-haul regions (excluding Mainland China and Macau), arrivals totalled 4,245,244, a shortfall of 12.7% over the same period of last year.
Overnight vs. Same-Day, in-Town Visitors
Overall, some 59.3% of all visitors to Hong Kong in August stayed in the city for at least one night, 1.1 percentage points lower than in the same month last year. The remaining 40.7% same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day they arrived.
From January to August 2009, close to 10.85 million or 57.4% of total arrivals stayed in the city for at least one night, compared with 58.7% during the same period last year. The remaining 8.06 million (42.6%) were classified as same-day in-town visitors.
Hotel Occupancy
Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels in August 2009 was 82%, three percentage points lower than in August 2008. The geographic locations with the highest occupancy were Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, where hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 87%. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$882, 20.3% lower than in August 2008.