Hong Kong sees visitor increase of 16%

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) reports that total visitor arrivals in 2012 reached 48,615,113, an increase of 16 over the yearly total in 2011. Of the total figure, 48.9%, or 23.77 million, were overnight visitors, 6.5% more than in the previous year. Arrivals from many short-haul markets posted positive growth figures, affected by the fact that many vacationers in the region cancelled their trips to Japan following that country’s earthquake and related incidents in 2011. In the long-haul regions, the sluggish performance of both European and American economies caused a slight drop in the number of arrivals. The noticeable exception was the United Kingdom, which achieved a year-on-year growth of 5.3%, bringing that country’s yearly arrivals to a figure over 530,000. Canada also recorded a drop in arrivals. The December 2012 figure was 35,119 compared to the December 2011 figure of 36,682 — a negative growth figure of -4.3%. For the whole of 2012, Canada’s arrival figure was 392,519 compared to 410,591 in the previous year, which translates into a 4.4% decrease. (http://www.DiscoverHongKong.com/ca)