The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced today (24 December) that over 4.21 million visitor arrivals were recorded in November 2012. The figure represents a year-on-year growth of 18.7%.

Out of the total arrivals, more than 2.03 million were overnight arrivals, 8.2% more than the figure of last year. A number of short-haul markets, including Thailand (+43.5%), Taiwan (+15.3%) and South Korea (+10.9%), as well as such long-haul markets as Russia (+36.5%) achieved satisfactory growth in their overnight arrivals. As for Mainland China, the number of overnight arrivals exceeded 1.28 million. Meanwhile, the total number of same-day, in-town visitor arrivals during November 2012 increased 30.4% to surpass 2.18 million.

Cumulatively, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong between January and November 2012 exceeded 43.83 million, a 16.1%-increase compared to the corresponding period in 2011. Of these, over 21.46 million were overnight arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. The remaining 22.37 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.