Hong Kong visitor arrivals reached 37,770,230 in the first 11 months of 2011.

The figure not only represents a 16.3 per cent increase compared to the equivalent period in 2010, but has also surpassed the yearly total of 2010.

In November alone, arrivals rose by 16.4 per cent year-on-year to 3,552,733, making it the November with the highest number of visitor arrivals in record.

In November, arrivals from Mainland China surged by 24.8 per cent year-on-year to beyond 2.3 million, as consumers’ travel and consumption sentiments remained strong.

Of these, 63.9 per cent or around 1.5 million made their trip on the Individual Visit Scheme, a rise of 27.6 per cent over November 2010.

Cumulatively, Mainland arrivals climbed up by 23.8 per cent to a historic high of over 25 million, surpassing the 12-month total of 2010.

Among the short-haul market regions, North Asia achieved the best performance in November, with arrivals from the region moved up by 6.9 per cent to over 200,000.

Specifically, Japanese arrivals sustained the positive trend of October as outbound travel sentiments improved, growing by 5.9 per cent to nearly 120,000 during the month.

For South Korea, the market maintained its steady upward trend, registering more than 80,000 arrivals or an 8.4 per cent increase year-on-year.

From January-November, arrivals from North Asia grew by four per cent to over two million.

Southeast Asia also saw moderate growth in November, with total arrivals rising by 7.9 per cent year-on-year to nearly 300,000.

In terms of individual markets, Singapore and the Philippines recorded double-digit growth in arrivals, whereas Thailand showed decrease of 10.7 per cent due to the recent flooding in the country.

In the first 11 months, overall Southeast Asian arrivals went up by 9.4 per cent to exceed 2.8 million, with double-digit increase for Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

As for Taiwan, arrivals declined by 2.3 per cent in November to slightly below 160,000.

Cumulatively, arrivals from the island were similar to last year’s level at around 2 million. Among these, the higher-spending overnight visitors rose by 9.3 per cent to surpass 710,000, taking up 36.0 per cent of the total arrivals.

In the long-haul regions, arrivals went up by 1.4 per cent to more than 450,000 in November.

The Americas performed the best, with some 170,000 arrivals or a 6.9 per cent increase.

In particular, arrivals from the US and Canada increased by 7.3 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively as a result of increased vacation visitors.

In the first 11 months of 2011, overall long-haul arrivals rose by 1.5 per cent to more than 4.38 million.

Overnight arrivals to Hong Kong reached 1.87 million or 52.9 per cent of all arrivals, a 13.1 per cent increase year-on-year.

Meanwhile, same-day arrivals leaped up by 20.3 per cent to exceed 1.67 million.

In the first 11 months of 2011, overnight arrivals increased by 11.1 per cent to 20.12 million, accounting for 53.3 per cent of all arrivals. As for same-day arrivals, these increased by 22.7 per cent to some 17.64 million.

On December 20th 2011, another new milestone was achieved for Hong Kong’s tourism, as the city received its first 40-millionth visitor of a single year, Ms Nancy Ryan from the US.