Hong Kong faces ‘challenge’ to hit projected figure of 46 million visitors: tourism sector

Hong Kong tourism sector leaders have said it will be a “challenge” for the city to meet authorities’ full-year estimate of 46 million visitors and hitting 70 per cent of record numbers in 2018, as they called for more measures to tackle labour shortages.

Perry Yiu Pak-leung, the lawmaker who represents the industry in the Legislative Council, said on Wednesday Hong Kong had welcomed 34 million visitors so far this year, equal to the number for all of 2023, but still 12 million shy of the Tourism Board’s projection of 46 million for 2024.

“It is only a little more than 2 ½ months till the end of this year. It is quite challenging to reach the estimated level,” Yiu said.

Gianna Hsu Wong Mei-lun, chairwoman of the Travel Industry Council, which represents travel agencies, said the sector was “cautiously optimistic” about the outlook for the coming quarter.

“What we are especially happy about is that we have more overnight travel groups,” Hsu said. “This is both beneficial to our industry and the overall economy.”

The Travel Industry Authority earlier revealed that 1,050 tour groups visited Hong Kong during mainland China’s National Day “golden week” holiday, 76 per cent of which stayed overnight.