More of World’s Travelers Wooed by Exotic Appeal Of A ‘Stay In Hong Kong’

Total international arrivals for the 11 month January to November 2013 period were 49,076,480, representing a 12 per cent growth over the 43,837,125 figure for January to November 2012.

For the month of November 2013 arrivals numbered 4,579,681, an 8.6 per cent increase over November 2012's 4,216,937.

Mainland China continued to be the main source market for Hong Kong, accounting for 36,855,277 arrivals from January to November, up 17.3 per cent over the same 2012 period (equating to over 5.4 million more arrivals). The monthly figure for November was 3,348,121 – up 10.1 per cent over November 2012's 3,040,360.

Air access from mainland China to The Pearl of the Orient is plentiful. Various airlines fly to Hong Kong from an extensive list of mainland destinations that includes Shanghai, Xiamen, Suzhou, Nanning, Wuhan, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Wenzhou, Sanya, Nanking, Fuzhou, Dalian, Guilin, Lijiang, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Harbin and Hangzhou. Those carriers include Hong Kong Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China, Shanghai Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

Geographical proximity sees flights to Hong Kong from mainland China range in duration from just over half an hour for visitors coming from Shenzhen to around four hours from Harbin, increasing the appeal of a stay in Hong Hong for Chinese visitors.

As a regional air hub in Asia, Hong KongInternationalAirport is connected to some 180 points worldwide. Around 100 airlines – among them British Airways, EVA Air, Emirates, Air France, Delta Air Lines, Hong Kong Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Japan Airlines, Thai Airways International, AirAsia and Qantas – fly to Hong Kong from around the globe.

Collectively, the Short Haul Markets to Hong Kong (Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) posted a 1.3 per cent drop in arrivals year-on-year for January to November 2013 to total 7,501,773. For the month of November 2013, these markets grew 7.8 per cent to 758,789.

As individual markets, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand all registered year-on-year growth in the 11 month period. While Japan registered a 17.8 per cent drop year-on-year for the 11 months (from 1,159,496 to 953,300), it showed a 12.9 per cent increase for the month of November (from 84,165 to 95,012).

Arrivals from Long Haul Markets (USA, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia) also dropped year-on-year – by 3.5 per cent – to 3,914,800 for January to November 2013. For the month of November 2013, these markets dropped 1 per cent to 399,876.

Meanwhile the New Markets (India, GCC Markets, Russia, the Netherlands and Vietnam) continued to send more visitors Hong Kong's way. For the 11 months of January to November 2013 they generated 804,630 arrivals for an 8.1 per cent year-on-year increase. Russia showed the highest growth of 21.4 per cent to number 203,999 while the Netherlands was the only market to drop, by 8.8 per cent to 84,435.

For the month of November 2013, New Market arrivals totaled 72,895 for a 6 per cent increase over November 2012's 68,781. India, Russia and Vietnam showed growth, while the GCC Markets and the Netherlands showed a decline.