Hong Kong slightly increases traveller figures in 2009

After a tough year Hong Kong is celebrating a slight increase of 0.3% in traveller numbers after its strong push in mainland China paid off with a 6.5% increase in travellers offsetting long-haul drops.

For the full year of 2009 some 29.59 million foreign travellers entered Hong Kong, and while long-haul travellers dropped by 6.1%, this was offset by a strong growth in mainland Chinese travellers after Hong Kong heavily focused its advertising budget in the region.

"During the first half of 2009, our tourism performance was severely impacted by the global financial crisis that emerged since the third quarter of 2008 and the outbreak of human swine influenza in May 2009," said James Tien, Hong Kong Tourism Board Chairman.

"Notwithstanding the serious challenges in 2009, our tourism industry achieved better-than-expected results."