HONG KONG: Hong Kong earned HK$162.89 billion ($20.98 billion) from tourism last year, up 3.2 percent on 2008, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said on Tuesday.
Board Chairman James Tien said that the increase in tourism expenditure was highly encouraging given the challenging financial environment last year.
"The key driver was the greater number of mainland visitors and their higher spending, thanks to the mainland's robust economic growth and measures to facilitate individual visits by Shenzhen residents.
"Mainland visitors have become the highest spenders among all markets, contributing HK$83.47 billion, which was about 70 percent of our total visitor spending," Tien said.
In terms of per capita spending, both overnight and same-day visitors from the Chinese mainland recorded double-digit growth. Overnight mainland visitors spent an average of HK$6,620, up 16.6 percent each, while the figure was HK$2,352, up 10 percent for same-day arrivals.
Visitors from other market regions spent less as a result of the global economic downturn. The board expects the situation to improve this year with the continued recovery of the global economy and better travel sentiments in major source markets.
