The Tourism Development Bureau announced yesterday that there were 55.91 million visitors to Hong Kong last year, a year-on-year decrease of 14.2%, which is the lowest since 2014
Among them, overnight visitors to Hong Kong fell by 18.8% to 23.76 million, the most significant drop was for short-haul non-mainland visitors. The Chairman of the HKTB, Peng Yaojia, said that he had launched publicity in multiple short-haul markets and was actively preparing for large-scale promotion in multiple source markets around the world to rebuild Hong Kong’s tourism image.
Non-Mainland Short-haul Passengers Fall Most
In 2019, the overall number of tourists visiting Hong Kong increased by 13.9% year-on-year in the first half of the year, but it fell by 39.1% year-on-year in the second half of the year, making the total number of visitors to Hong Kong also fell by 14.2% year-on-year to about 55.91 million, of which the largest decline Short-haul passengers from Mainland China fell 18.7% year-on-year to 6.33 million passengers. As for the number of overnight visitors to the government that the government has always been concerned about, in the first half of the year, it rose slightly by 7.7% year-on-year, but in the second half of the year, it fell by 42.7%, making the year-on-year fall of 18.8% to 23.76 million. The most significant drop was also in the non-Mainland Short-haul passengers fell 23% year-on-year to 4.08 million.
HKTB: Multi-Short Market Promotions
Peng Yaojia said that Hong Kong’s tourism industry has faced great challenges in the past year, but believes that Hong Kong can face adversity. The HKTB has promoted it in a number of short-haul markets such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand. Japan, and other long-distance markets, and are actively preparing for large-scale publicity and promotion in multiple source markets to rebuild Hong Kong’s tourism image and revitalize Hong Kong’s tourism industry.
Yao Sirong, a member of the Legislative Council of the tourism industry, believes that because overnight guests need to book air tickets, hotels, and transportation, it is more likely to affect the desire to come to Hong Kong due to the unstable situation. From 70% to 70%, the occupancy rate of some hotels is only 30% to 40%. He believes that the most important thing is that the situation in Hong Kong needs to return to stability before it can attract overnight visitors.