HONG KONG – Hong Kong is the latest destination to feel the impact of the global economic downturn.
Visitor arrivals from Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific dropped 13.6 percent to 63,506 in January compared to the same month in 2008. Of these, 54,235 were arrivals from Australia.
Overall, figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) show that visitor arrivals in January 2009 reached 2,796,099, 11.0 percent more than in January 2008.
But the figures were skewed by mainland Chinese visitors travelling to Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year celebrations, which fell in the first month this year and February in 2008.
Overall, some 57.4 percent of all visitors to Hong Kong in January stayed in the city for at least one night, 2.1 percentage points lower than for the same month last year.
The remaining 42.6 percent same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day as arrival.
Hotel occupancy across all categories of hotels in January 2009 was 79 percent, eight percentage points lower than in January 2009.
The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,117, 10.3 percent lower than in January 2008.
