The number of visitor arriving in the city rose to 3,598,030 in January, up 21.5 percent year-on- year, the Hong Kong Tourism Board announced on Monday.
The board said the growth was driven by a 31.2 percent rise in arrivals from the Chinese Mainland, to more than 2.5 million. Nearly 70 percent of them traveled to Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme, up 42 percent in last year.
The growth can be attributed to the multiple-entry visa arrangement for Shenzhen residents to visit Hong Kong, as well as the expanded scope for non-Guangdong residents in Shenzhen to apply for individual visit endorsement. The appreciation of the RMB against the Hong Kong dollar also helped draw a large number of Mainlanders.
For the short-haul markets, South Korea showed the most prominent growth, with arrivals rising 24.9 percent to 102,546. Steady performance was seen in most long-haul market arrivals, with those from Canada seeing the largest increase, up 12.4 percent to 33,603.
Emerging markets continued to see increased arrivals. The most outstanding growth was from Russia, up 52.6 percent, which now shares a visa-free arrangement with Hong Kong.
The number of overnight visitors and same-day in-town visitors were 1.78 million and 1.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent and 39.8 percent.
