The tourism industry made another new record in 2007 with over 28 million visitor arrivals, up 11.6% year-on-year. Most of the long haul and short haul markets such as the Americas, Europe, Australasia, Southeast Asian markets have recorded steady growth. Mainland was still the largest source market with arrivals increasing by 13.9% to more than 15.4 million.
A number of major tourist attractions opened in past years cater for visitors of all kinds, including family and leisure visitors as well as those interested in green tourism. These include Hong Kong Wetland Park, which was opened in May 2006 and the Ngong Ping 360, which was re-opened in January 2008. Earlier on, the Hong Kong Disneyland was opened in September 2005 and Phase II of A Symphony of Lights was launched in December 2005. Together with the global marketing campaign ¡§Hong Kong ¡V Live it. Love it!¡¨ and mega events staged by the Hong Kong Tourism Board throughout the year, all these initiatives helped sustain healthy growth of the local tourism industry.
Hotel occupancy was at an average of 86% in 2007, down slightly from 86% a year earlier. The number of room nights has risen due to the increase in hotel room supply by some 4400 rooms or 9.4% during the same period.
* Figures quoted below
are from the Hong
Kong Tourism Board
(A)
| Month |
Visitor
Arrivals |
Average
Hotel Occupancy Rate Note 1 |
| December 2006 |
2,081,772 |
90% |
| January 2007 |
2,166,553 |
85% |
| February 2007 |
2,286,100 |
80% |
| March 2007 |
2,163,164 |
89% |
| April 2007 |
2,176,854 |
82% |
| May 2007 |
2,202,343 |
81% |
| June 2007 |
2,034,354 |
82% |
| July 2007 |
2,455,224 |
90% |
| August 2007 |
2,758,337 |
91% |
| September 2007 |
2,120,835 |
81% |
| October 2007 |
2,568,040 |
89% |
| November 2007 |
2,448,135 |
93% |
| December 2007 |
2,789,354 |
93% |
Visitor arrivals
from 2003 to 2007
| Year |
Visitor
Arrivals |
| 2003Note (2) |
15,536,839 |
| 2004 |
21,810,630 |
| 2005 |
23,359,417 |
| 2006 |
25,251,124 |
| 2007 |
28,169,293 |
(B)
Total Tourism Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism
| 2007
(HK$M) |
2006
(HK$M) |
| 138,000.00 |
119,426.00 |
| Note
(1): |
- During Dec 2007, a total of 104 hotels and 22 tourist guesthouses responded the HKTB's monthly Hotel Room Occupancy Surveys. This represented 77% of the total 51,505 rooms provided in 139 hotels, and 11% of 5,068 rooms provided in 511 tourist guesthouses. Figures are obtained from the Office of the Licensing Authority, Home Affairs Department and the HKTB Hotel Survey.
- Calculation of occupancy rate is based on daily rooms occupied against daily rooms available for sales, rooms under repair or being refurnished are excluded.
- In Dec 2007, there were 650 hotels/tourist guesthouses in Hong Kong, totalling 56,573 rooms. This is 7.7% more than the figure for Dec 2006. |
| |
|
| Note
(2): |
The outbreak of conflicts in Iraq and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong undermined the tourism industry in the second quarter of the year. Overall visitor arrivals dropped by 57.9% during the period. With the launching of various economic and tourism revival campaigns, the tourism sector staged a rapid V-shaped recovery with arrivals returned to a positive growth of 9.6% in August 2004. The growth momentum sustained in the rest of the year. The major contributing factors to the strong rebound were the rapid growth of Mainland visitors and the implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme. Long haul markets also gradually recovered in late 2003 and visitor arrivals to Hong Kong totalled 15.54 million in 2003, representing a modest drop of 6.2% from 2002. |
| |
|
| Disclaimer: |
Figures
quoted above are from the Hong Kong Tourism Board
which is responsible for the compilation and release
of tourism-related information and statistics. For
further information, please visit the Hong Kong
Tourism Board's website : http://partnernet.hktb.com
or contact the Research Department of the Hong Kong
Tourism Board at : research@hktb.com
Fax No. : 2503 6377
Tel. No. : 2807 6543 |
|
|