Hong Kong hoping ‘Summer Viva’ campaign will make tourists extend stays

The Hong Kong Tourism Board will ramp up efforts to encourage family and business visitors to extend their stay in the city by promoting diverse travel experiences, the body’s new chief has said.

Board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok said on Friday that Hong Kong could no longer rely on past glories by only promoting itself as a food and shopping paradise and should capitalise on the increased number of tourists and opportunities brought by the current geopolitical situation.

“Hong Kong is safe for family tourism. You don’t find any other places like Hong Kong, safe and convenient with multiple choices for your choosing,” Lam, whose tenure started in April, said.

Hong Kong welcomed 12.2 million arrivals in the first quarter of 2025, a 9 per cent year-on-year increase, the largest quarterly growth since travel resumed after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Arrivals plummeted by 94 per cent year on year to 3.57 million in 2020 as the pandemic struck, compounding an already sharp decline seen from months of social unrest, with daily visitor numbers falling from 200,000 in the first half of 2019 to below 3,000 in February 2020.

“My biggest challenge as the new chairman is I don’t blindly just chase visitor arrival numbers, more important is the quality. And one big challenge is how to keep the tourists to stay in Hong Kong longer,” Lam said, adding that currently tourists stayed for an average of 3.2 nights.