Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong fell for the fifth month with a 2.7% y-o-y drop in October to 5.0735 million, according to data released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) on November 30.
HKTB certification for quality tourism service providers
The number of mainland Chinese visitors, the largest group of visitors to Hong Kong, fell more sharply than the average rate. Arrivals from China decreased 170,400, or 4.2%, to 3.85 million trips, which is equivalent to 76% of total visitor arrivals of Hong Kong in October.
The decrease in visitor arrivals for Hong Kong has been ongoing for five months – arrivals for June fell 2.9% y-o-y, followed by 8.4% and 6.6% decrease in the traditional peak months of July and August, and 4% drop in September.
The chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Michael Wu, said the fall in visitor number shows the effectiveness of the city’s policy to curb cross-border parallel traders by allowing only one trip per week by Shenzhen visitors. The policy was introduced in mid-April in Shenzhen in lieu of the previous policy of unlimited visits by Shenzhen visitors holding a Hong Kong visitor pass.
Mr. Wu anticipates the slump in arrivals to continue till the Chinese New Year in February next year, and the local industry will have to launch a series of measures in a bid to attract visitors to the SAR in the meantime.
The HKTB has recently awarded grants of RMB10 million to 10 tourism attractions that applied for funding through the “Matching Fund for Overseas Tourism Promotion by Tourist Attractions (MFTA) Scheme”. The scheme aims to help boost overseas marketing campaigns from November to March next year.
The Hong Kong SAR government has announced RMB5 million additional funding for HKTB to rebuild the SAR’s image as a hospitable city through promotions and campaigns to guide tourists to shop for products of quality and integrity in order to give mainland visitors an authentic experience.(Translation by David）
