Hong Kong arrivals up 12% led by visitors from US, Europe, Australia

The number of visitors to Hong Kong rose by 12 per cent year on year in July, with long-haul arrivals from countries such as Britain, the United States and France showing the biggest increase at 21 per cent, according to official data.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board said on Friday that the city welcomed 4.39 million visitors in July, pushing the cumulative total for the first seven months of the year to around 28 million, also a 12 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Visitor numbers maintained a similar growth momentum from the previous month, with 3.48 million arrivals recorded in June, a year-on-year increase of 11 per cent.

The number of visitors from long-haul markets reached 263,255 in July, a 21 per cent increase from the same period last year. The figure accounted for 6 per cent of the total arrivals in the month.

The tourism board added that the primary drivers of the long-haul market’s growth were visitors from the UK, the US, Australia, France and Germany.

This marks the biggest year-on-year growth in long-haul markets since January, when the first month of long-haul tourists also recorded a 21 per cent increase, while other months fell between 16 and 20 per cent.