HONG KONG, 19 March 2025: The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) reports provisional visitor arrivals for January and February have hit 8.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 7%.
As the Chinese New Year holiday fell on 28 January to 4 February in 2025 and 10 to 17 February in 2024, the figures of the first two months were combined for an accurate year-on-year comparison.
Visitor arrivals from Mainland China were steady in the first two months of 2025, with a total of 6.5 million visitors, a 4% increase from the same period last year. However, the growth momentum of non-mainland markets prevails, with over 1.91 million non-mainland visitors arriving in Hong Kong in January and February, marking a 20% increase year on year.
Arrivals from short-haul markets reached 1.13 million visitors in the first two months, showing a 26% rise from last year. The Philippines and Indonesia from Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea all showed a year-on-year growth of more than 30%.
Long-haul arrivals increased by 20% year-on-year to half a million, with Australia showing an exceptional boost of 34% compared with the same months in 2024.
Note 1: The Chinese New Year holiday ran from 28 January to 4 February and 10 to 17 February in 2025 and 2024, respectively, so the figures for the first two months were combined for an accurate year-on-year comparison.
Note 2: Because of rounding, the total may differ from the sum of the individual figures.
*Includes figures from long-haul, short-haul and new markets, as well as the Macao SAR.
(Full details of February 2025 visitor arrivals will be released on 31 March.)
HKTB confirmed last month that the Hong Kong SAR Government has earmarked HKD1.235 billion, including recurrent and additional funding, to support HKTB’s global promotional initiatives and daily operations in the 2025-26 budget.
HKTB will focus on implementing the initiatives outlined in the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry 2.0 while expanding the multiple-entry Individual Visit Scheme for Shenzhen residents to attract more visitors.
“We will also use Hong Kong’s role as a “super-connector” between the Mainland and overseas to attract visitors to come to Hong Kong for multi-destination trips, encouraging them to explore the Greater Bay Area and other Mainland cities via Hong Kong,” HKTB said in a press statement.
In addition, HKTB will use the funding to promote the development of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) and cruise tourism.
(Source: HKTB)
