The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced today (30 November) that over 4.24 million visitor arrivals were recorded in October 2012, representing an 11.9%-increase over the same month last year. Of these, more than 2.01 million were overnight arrivals, 3.6% up from last year’s figure.

In terms of overnight visitors, more than 730,000 came from non-Mainland, international markets. A number of source markets showed satisfactory growth, including South Korea (+13.9%) and Thailand (+8.4%) in the short-haul regions, as well as Russia (+19.5%) and the UK (+6.3%) in the long-haul regions. Mainland China also contributed over 1.28 million overnight arrivals. Meanwhile, same-day, in-town visitor arrivals rose 20.6% to surpass 2.22 million.

Cumulatively, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong between January and October 2012 exceeded 39.62 million, a 15.8%-increase compared to the corresponding period in 2011. Of these, overnight arrivals accounted for some 19.42 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. The remaining 20.19 million belonged to same-day, in-town arrivals.

Note:
Visitor arrivals mentioned in this release include both overnight visitors and same-day, in-town visitors. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), visitors are divided into two categories:

• tourists or overnight visitors, if the trip involves an overnight stay; and
• same-day visitors or excursionists, if the trip does not involve an overnight stay.