The racecourse has rolled out the red carpet for tens of thousands of people on Friday for the Chinese New Year Raceday.

Some 86 thousand revellers came to Sha Tin Racecourse, according to the Jockey Club, including record high numbers of tourists from the mainland and overseas.

The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Rosanna Law, was in attendance and said she was delighted to see such a high turnout.

Among the crowd was an Italian tourist, who told an RTHK reporter that he's thrilled to experience the unique horse racing culture in Hong Kong.

"It's amazing. Lots of lights, sounds, crowds everywhere. It's similar but quite different because it's not so famous and popular in Italy. [Only] a few people follow horse racing."

Another tourist from Canada said he enjoyed the festive atmosphere, including special Chinese New Year features and installations.

"There's a Jockey simulator. That's one that I really wanted to do. We took pictures with the guy who's giving out candies. It's a very nice event and there's a lot of different things for Chinese New Year that make it truly special," he said.

Meanwhile, Law also told reporters that 216,000 travellers set foot in the SAR on Thursday.

A majority of them, or more than 187,000 were visitors from the mainland.

This Lunar New Year marks the first since the government resumed the three percent hotel accommodation tax on January 1, after it had been suspended since July, 2008.

The tourism minister said the tax is here to stay, as people have adapted to the measure before.

"We've charged the three percent hotel accommodation tax before. As long as visitors have fun in Hong Kong, and think that it's good value for money, the three percent tax won't have too much of an impact on them."

She noted that with many hotels reaching an occupancy rate of 100 percent these days, it showed that visitors were attracted by Hong Kong's festive spirit.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan was also at the Sha Tin racecourse to officiate the opening ceremony with Law.