A strong performance from all three long-haul markets helped lift visitor arrivals in February to 1,454,486, a 3.3% growth on the equivalent figure for 2003, the HK Tourism Board says.

The best result came from Europe, Africa & the Middle East, which saw 17% growth in arrivals to 104,082, while there were also encouraging performances from Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific (+12.8%) and the Americas (+9.2%).

Contributing to this growth was the fact that Lunar New Year fell in January this year, but in February in 2003, the board said, adding that business traffic is always quieter around the Lunar New Year period.

Noting that the trade's recent development is encouraging, the board's Executive Director Clara Chong said they still face challenges in restoring some of the other Asian markets to pre-Sars levels, especially Japan. 

The board will be launching a campaign in Japan in the coming weeks, and will continue its strenuous promotional efforts in all other key markets worldwide.

Long-haul markets recover to pre-SARS level

Taking January and February 2004 together, the long-haul market figures show that Europe, Africa & the Middle East and Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific have almost recovered to pre-SARS levels, compared with the first two months of 2003. Meanwhile the gap has significantly narrowed for The Americas, also, which were down just 7.7%.

The Lunar New Year effect was also seen in arrivals from Mainland China - a market more strongly driven by leisure travel - which saw 15.6% growth in February compared with 48.5% in January. 

For the first two months of 2004 combined, Mainland market growth stands at 32.5%.

Taiwanese arrivals recover slowly

Arrivals from Taiwan, however, continue to show a slow recovery and were down 24.7% in February, at 145,026.  Bird flu will have had an impact on this market as Hong Kong is the principal transport hub between Taiwan, Mainland China and other Asian destinations.

The Lunar New Year effect is again likely to have had a bearing on the January and February figures, as leisure visitors are more likely to stay overnight than those travelling in the region for business purposes.

For January and February combined, 63.5% of all visitors stayed for one night or more, compared with only 62.9% during the same period in 2003.

Average occupancy rates up in Central, Admiralty

The average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels and tourist guest houses in February was 81%, the same as in February 2003. Because of the stronger focus on business travel, hotels in the Central and Admiralty area recorded 89% average occupancy, compared with only 73% in February 2003.