Hong Kong sets new arrivals record

Hong Kong remains popular with travellers with 2011 visitor arrivals reaching an all-time high. The final, end-of-year figure was 41,921,310, representing an increase of 16.4% over the previous year. Arrival numbers from The Americas (Canada and the US) were up 4.1% and proved to the best-performing, non-Asian region in 2011. Mainland China led the way with 28,100,129 or an increase of 23.9%, followed by North Asia at 2,304,683 (+4.4%). Arrivals from Canada reached 410,591, a 1.6% increase over 2010. More visitors means more spending and, according to the latest projection, the total expenditure associated with inbound tourism in 2011 is expected to exceed HK$253 billion, nearly $33 billion.