Hong Kong recorded a 7.5 per cent increase in visitor numbers over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, but local businesses continued to complain of lacklustre sales as outbound trips made by city residents also rose by 10 per cent.
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Local residents and visitors made a total of 12.41 million trips across all border checkpoints between December 21 and January 1, 15 per cent higher than the same 12-day period a year before, according to official statistics.
But the tally fell short of the Immigration Department’s forecast by 5 per cent.
There were 1.77 million visitor arrivals in the latest holiday period, 7.5 per cent higher than the 1.65 million recorded the last time around.
The most recent holiday’s tally of 1.28 million mainland tourists represented a 3.5 per cent year-on-year increase. The 496,166 foreign arrivals also increased by nearly a fifth from a year ago.
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The uptick in visitors has been a boon for some establishments that had a good reputation among mainland residents.