Hong Kong recorded 3,840,180 visitor arrivals in April 2012, 14.4 per cent more than in the same month last year.

Overall arrivals from Mainland China made a year-on-year leap of 23.9 per cent to 2,647,026.

Of these, 64.3 per cent (over 1.7 million) travelled under the Individual Visit Scheme, 26.0 per cent more than in April 2011.

While total arrivals from short-haul markets declined by 3.7 per cent to 726,289, individual markets such as the Philippines and Japan recorded double-digit growth of 17 per cent and 10.1 per cent respectively.

The number of arrivals from long-haul markets stood at 466,865, similar to last year’s April level.

The USA and Europe each recorded a two per cent increase, and the Russian market continued its impressive growth, rising 30.1 per cent.

Cumulative arrivals from January to April 2012 rose 15.3 per cent to 15,062,908, with growth across all market regions.

In April 2012, overnight visitor arrivals and same-day visitor arrivals accounted for 48.8 per cent and 51.2 per cent respectively of total arrivals, with the former up by 4.7 per cent to about 1.87 million, and the latter up by 25.4 per cent to over 1.96 million.

Among all individual markets, Mainland China achieved the best growth in overnight arrivals, with 1.15 million visitors, representing 43.4 per cent of overall arrivals from the Mainland and a 10.3 per cent increase over the same month last year.