The government on Wednesday said Hong Kong saw a 16-percent jump in visitors from ten mainland cities in the third quarter, following Beijing's decision to allow individual visits from these places.

The Individual Visit Scheme was expanded in March and May, and it involved the cities of Qingdao, Xi'an, Taiyuan, Hohhot, Harbin, Lhasa, Lanzhou, Xining, Yinchuan and Urumqi.

The Tourism Bureau revealed the boost in mainland tourist numbers in a response to a question from tourism sector lawmaker Perry Yiu, who also chairs the China Travel Service.

It said more than 140,000 inbound visitors came from the ten cities between July and September, adding that since the visit scheme's expansion, some officials had visited these places and encouraged their trade representatives to tour the SAR.

"Since April this year, the Tourism Board has distributed nearly 30,000 sets of discount vouchers, each valued at HK$200, to visitors from the ten cities through travel agents and airlines," the bureau said in a written reply.

It added that it will continue to work with the trade to look for business opportunities and promote two-way tourism exchanges with mainland cities.