Hong Kong logged 3.13 million visitor arrivals in June, according to provisional figures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), 14 per cent more than in the same period last year when the city was emerging from three years of Covid-related isolation. However, arrival figures remained well below pre-pandemic figures.
In June 2018, Hong Kong saw 4.74 million arrivals, and 5.14 million visitor arrivals were recorded in 2019.
Last month’s total represented a decline of 34 per cent from 2018 and 39 per cent from 2019. Over 21 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong in the first six months of the year, according to the HKTB, a daily average of 116,000. The city’s tourism body has predicted that the city will see 46 million visitor arrivals this year.
HKTB said in a statement on Tuesday that visitors were “satisfied with their overall experience in Hong Kong,” adding that 50 per cent of those who visited in the first six months of 2024 were overnight visitors, staying for an average of 3.2 nights. Attractions popular with travellers surveyed by the HKTB as they left the city included the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront promenade, Temple Street and Ladies’ Markets, the Peak, and Hong Kong Disneyland.
Not included in the list were places that have found acclaim among mainland Chinese visitors – Hong Kong’s largest source market by far – after being featured in travel guides on Chinese social media apps such as Xiaohongshu. The sight of tourists queuing to take photographs has.