The Hong Kong Tourism Board said provisional figures for visitor arrivals in July added up to 4.5 million, representing a three percent year-on-year increase, thanks to a series of major international MICE events and activities.

"Among these, the Chinese mainland market maintained a stable overall performance, and long-haul markets continued to demonstrate strong growth momentum," the board said in a statement on Monday.

More than 3.6 million of the arrivals came from the mainland – up three percent from a year ago.

The board said growth moderated slightly, mainly due to several days of inclement weather in July.

Visitors from long-haul markets grew 17 percent to 307,000.

However, short-haul markets bucked the trend, with arrivals falling nine percent.

The board said short-haul markets remained under pressure, with visitor growth affected by factors such as rising fuel costs stemming from the situation in the Middle East, which led to adjustments in flight capacity.

A series of major international meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, or MICE, events and activities was held in July, including the “108th Lions International Convention” and “LEAP East”, the flagship technology exhibition for the Middle East.

The board said that drove a rise in business and MICE visitors and supported growth from certain source markets.

For the first seven months of this year, visitor arrivals rose 11 percent to more than 31.2 million.

Looking ahead, the board said it would roll out a series of flagship mega events covering various areas such as festive celebrations, sports and culinary events to attract visitors.

It would also join hands with the industry to launch a variety of promotional activities, encouraging visitors to explore Hong Kong’s different neighbourhoods and unique travel experiences in greater depth.

The board said it hopes the initiatives would extend visitors’ length of stay, boost spending and generate greater economic benefits for the tourism and related sectors.




Edited by Tony Sabine