Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in May 2008 were up 6.3% more than in May 2007, whilst cumulative arrivals for the first five months of 2008 were up 9.5% on the same period last year.Almost all long and short-haul market regions recorded positive growth in May 2008. For visitor mix, the proportion of arrivals from Mainland China and those from all other market regions remained same as in 2007.

Visitors from North Asia were up the highest (+13.6%), whilst Southeast Asia was up +9.9%; Mainland China +6.4%; Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific +4.6%. The Americas was relatively flat (+0.6%); whilst Europe, Africa & the Middle East was down -4.2%.

Among various individual source markets, South Korea achieved the highest growth rate at 32.6%. Arrivals from the emerging markets of India and Russia also gained 32.2% and 14.2% respectively.

In May 2008, some 58.4% of all visitors to Hong Kong stayed in the city for at least one night, 2.3 percentage points lower than for the same month last year. The remaining 41.6% 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 May 2008 was 81%, same as in May 2007. Despite the surprise in April’s statistics, the geographic location with the highest occupancy returned to the normal Yau Ma Tei/ Mong Kok area, where hotels recorded occupancy rate of 84%. The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,140, 3.5% higher than in May 2007.
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