Visitor arrivals to HK rise 22pc last month: tourism board

The tourism authority announced new visitors in Hong Kong recorded over 80,000 in October, which marked a monthly increase of 22 percent, while the number of mainland travellers kept dropping.

According to the statistics report released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, among the new arrivals inbound for October, overseas visitors increased by 1.2 times month-on-month, with a total number of nearly 33,000.

However, travellers from the mainland declined seven percent compared to September, marking a figure of 47,658.

"The city logs around 330,000 new arrivals from January to October this year," said a spokesperson of the Board, noting the monthly figures saw a slight rebound after the easing of entry curbs in September.

"Visitors came to Hong Kong mainly for overnight stopovers, business trips, family visits, or other essential travel needs," said the report.

Separately, the government announced that it would hold the Asian Logistics, Maritime and Aviation Conference next week, welcoming over 14,000 visitors from all over the world to gather at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from November 22 to 23.

"Hong Kong saw a daily average of over 20,000 goods vehicles commuting crossing the border previously while the figure fell to 7,000 currently," said Lawmaker Frankie Yick Chi-ming of the transport sector.

"There are hard signs for improvement if the full opening of borders could not be achieved," he noted.
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