Hotels saw business receipts rise 39.4% while financing-industry players - excluding banks - saw a rise of 33.1% last year over 2003, the Census & Statistics Department says.

The increase in hotel business was attributable to the sustained growth in inbound tourism. The financing industry's increase was fuelled by the brisk trading activities in the local stock market.

Other service industries that recorded notable increases in business receipts included transport (+22.5%), insurance (+21.8%), storage (+17.1%), real estate (+13.3%), import/export trade (+12.4%) and restaurants (+10.1%).

Business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services sector rose 27.1%, while that of computer and information services increased 20.4%.

Comparing the fourth quarter of 2004 with the same period a year earlier, business receipts of almost all service industries increased. More notable increases were observed in the hotels (+22.3%), transport (+18.7%), financing (except banking) (+17.5%), insurance (+15.9%), real estate (+15.4%) and storage (+10.8%) industries.

However, business receipts in the film entertainment industry fell 4.2%.