Tourism Performance in 2010

In 2010, Hong Kong received a record-high of 36 million visitors from around the world, a remarkable increase of 21.8% over 2009. It is also the first time that the number of arrivals surpassed the 30 million mark. The improving global economy and travel sentiment have fueled the impressive performance.

The table below summarises Hong Kong's tourism performance in 2010 -

In 2010, Mainland China continued to be the largest visitor source market of Hong Kong with 22.7 million arrivals (+26.3%), accounting for 63.0% of our total arrivals. Amongst all Mainland arrivals, 11.0 million (48.5%) were same-day visitors, up by 32.7% year-on-year. 62.8% or 14.2 million visitors came to Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), up by 34.5% over the same period in 2009.

For other short-haul markets, arrivals from Taiwan increased by 7.7% to 2.2 million in 2010 as a result of a 29.0% increase in vacation visits. North Asia also registered a growth of 21.1%, thanks to the favourable exchange rate and strong outbound travel from Japan and South Korea. For South and Southeast Asia, arrivals also rose by 21.3% alongside the increased flight capacity.

In respect of long-haul markets, the improved global economic situation has rejuvenated business and vacation arrivals. In 2010, long-haul markets recorded a 10.5% growth over the 2009 to 4.7 million. In particular, the United States remained the largest long-haul market with 1.2 million arrivals in 2010, representing a 9.5% increase. The European market also performed well with 1.8 million arrivals, a 9.1%-increase over 2009.

Emerging markets, including India (+44.8%), the Middle East (+20.7%) and Russia (+102.0%), also registered significant increases in arrival numbers.