Hong Kong arrivals rise in 2009
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) released today (29 January) the final visitor arrivals for 2009, which totalled 29,590,654, representing an increase of 0.3% on the figure in 2008.
The table below summarises arrivals from different market regions in 2009:
Market Regions 2009 Visitor Arrivals Vs. 2008
Mainland China 17,956,731 +6.5%
Short-haul markets (excl. Mainland China and Macau) 6,717,983 -9.3%
North Asia 1,823,184 -18.2%
South and Southeast Asia 2,885,155 -1.7%
Taiwan 2,009,644 -10.3%
Long-haul markets 4,244,551 -6.5%
The Americas 1,567,807 -6.9%
Europe, Africa and the Middle East 1,968,781 -6.0%
Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific 707,963 -7.2%
Total* 29,590,654 +0.3%
* Total figure includes arrivals from Macau SAR
Among various market regions, Mainland China arrivals increased by 6.5% to 17,956,731. The robust growth was mainly driven by improved consumer sentiments in the latter part of the year and the Mainland’s implementation of new measures to facilitate Shenzhen residents to visit Hong Kong. Of the total Mainland arrivals in 2009, 10,591,418 arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), 59.0% of the total and 10.1% more than in 2008.
As for other short-haul regions, arrivals from Taiwan dropped by 10.3% to 2,009,644, owing to the continued impact of the direct links with the Mainland, which affected business arrivals. North Asia also registered decline of 18.2%, as outbound travel from Japan was affected by the weak economy, while that of South Korea by the depreciation of the Korean currency. For South and Southeast Asia, arrivals dropped by a mild 1.7%, with Indonesia (+1.3%) and India (+4.6%) recording positive gain.
In the long-haul regions, the economic downturn and the reduction in flight capacity caused arrivals from these regions to decrease by 6.5% in 2009. This was, nevertheless, a significant improvement over the double-digit decline in the early part of the year. As the economy showed signs of improvement towards the end of 2009, positive growth was recorded in arrivals from The Americas and Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific in the last two months.
For the individual markets, all emerging markets, namely India (+4.6%), Russia (+15.7%) and the Middle East (+2.0%) achieved positive growth in 2009, as a result of enhanced flight capacity and promotional effort. In particular, the mutual visa free access arrangement between Hong Kong and Russia since July 2009 led to robust growth of the number of Russian travellers.
Tourism Spending
Latest figures also show that the Total Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism (TEAIT) is expected to exceed HK$162 billion, as compared with HK$158.95 billion in 2008. Based on the current estimates, per capita spending by overnight arrivals will likely be around HK$5,650, as compared with HK$5,439 in 2008. As for same-day in-town visitors, their average per capita spending is expected to increase from HK$1,498 in 2008 to around HK$1,700 in 2009.
Same-Day In-Town Visitors
Of the 29,590,654 visitors who came to the city in 2009, 16.9 million (57.2%) stayed overnight, 1.5 percentage points fewer than in 2008. The remaining 12.7 million were classified as “same-day in-town” visitors, departing for another destination on the same day as arrival.
While Taiwan continued to have the highest percentage of same-day in-town visitors at 69.5%, the proportion of visitors staying overnight increased slightly from 29.0% in 2008 to 30.5% in 2009. As for Mainland China, the proportion of overnight visitors decreased by 1.8 percentage points, given the strong growth of same-day consumption visits by Mainland individual visitors, particularly those from Shenzhen.
The long-haul regions also registered decline in the proportion of overnight visitors due to weak business travel resulting from the economic downturn. Below summarises the percentage of overnight arrivals from different market regions in 2009:
Market Regions 2009 Overnight Visitor Arrivals (%) 2008 Overnight Visitor Arrivals (%)
The Americas 70.6% 73.1%
Europe, Africa and theMiddle East 72.0% 73.7%
Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific 76.2% 78.6%
North Asia 64.8% 65.3%
South & Southeast Asia 74.6% 75.1%
Taiwan 30.5% 29.0%
Mainland China 53.8% 55.6%
Hotel Occupancy
The average hotel occupancy rate across all categories of hotels in 2009 was 78%, seven percentage points lower than the figure of the previous year. Occupancy for top-tariff hotels averaged 72% in 2009, a seven-percentage-point decrease over 2008, while those in the second and third tiers reached 81% and 80%, as compared with 87% and 86% in the previous year. Hotels in Yau Ma Tei / Mong Kok achieved the highest average occupancy over the year, at 84%. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories and districts in 2009 was HK$1,023, representing a decrease of 16.3% on the 2008 figure.
- Ends -
Comments are closed.