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Hong Kong welcomed only 3.57 million visitors in 2020
Hong Kong saw just 3.57 million visitors in 2020, a huge decline of 93.6% from a year earlier.
According to preliminary data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board, arrivals in January 2020 alone accounted for most of the annual total.
Hog Kong began limiting access to overseas visitors in February and brought in strict quarantine measures from mid-March 2020.
"The tourism industry has been through an extremely tough year. The Hong Kong Tourism Board has renewed its strategies and approach in response to the immense challenges of the pandemic," said HKTB Chairman Dr. YK Pang.
"As visitors could not come to Hong Kong in person, we took the initiative to concentrate on improving the city’s atmosphere and ambience while maintaining its international exposure, to attract visitors back to Hong Kong as soon as the Covid-19 situation eases."
With people unable to travel in or out of Hong Kong, the HKTB launched a first-of-its-kind ‘Holiday @ Home’ campaign to encourage residents to explore more of their back yard.
Lunching in June, it rolled out 15,000 offers in dining and retail outlets and attractions.
A second phase rolled out in late October with a free tour program.
"Looking ahead to 2021, the HKTB is well prepared for the resumption of travel. We will further strengthen our cooperation with the travel trade to jointly develop new products and itineraries," Pang added.
To keep Hong Kong in the spotlight despite the lack of travel opportunities, the HKTB launched the ‘100 Reasons to Miss Hong Kong’ social media campaign, and ‘260 Hong Kong Moments’ Virtual Reality videos which will run until Mach 2021.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
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TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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