February saw 1,745,133 visitor arrivals, up 20% over a year earlier, the month's best on record. The Tourism Board said total arrivals for the year so far are 3,638,211, up 13.6% on last year.

All long- and short-haul market regions showed positive growth over the first two months of this year, notably North Asia (43.9%), South & Southeast Asia (32.6%), Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific (28.6%), the US (16.5%) and Europe, Africa and the Middle East (13.6%). Taiwan showed a 9.6% growth after a difficult year in 2004 while the Mainland was 8.6%.

February arrivals from the Mainland reached 1,041,061, up 26.2% over a year earlier. Of these, 496,932 arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme - 47.7% of the total, which is the highest proportion to date in any month since the scheme's launch in July 2003. In total, Hong Kong has now welcomed 2,106,548 Mainland visitors so far this year, up 8.6% on 2004, including 963,593 travelling as individuals.

Tourism Board Executive Director Clara Chong said the Lunar New Year period has become a popular time to visit Hong Kong for leisure, as evidenced by double-digit growth in key markets including the Philippines, the UK, Singapore, South Korea, the US and Australia during the 10-day celebration period. More than 707,000 arrivals were recorded, a surge of 14.5% over last year.

She said the differing dates of the festival in 2004 and 2005 created sharp fluctuations between January and February growth rates in certain markets. However, markets including South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and Canada performed well in both months.

Staying longer

In February, 64.1% of all visitors stayed one night or longer, compared with only 61.6% for the same month last year. The remaining 35.9% were classified as "same-day in-town" visitors, departing for another destination on the same day as arrival, a trend that reflects Hong Kong's increasing importance as a regional transport hub.

For the first two months of this year, 64.2% of all visitors have stayed for one night or longer, compared with 63.3% in 2004.

The average occupancy of hotels and tourist guest houses reached 77% in February, down 1% over a year earlier. The figure reflected an increased supply of some 3,200 hotel rooms during the intervening period.

The highest occupancy was achieved in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai, at 79%, followed by Tsim Sha Tsui at 78%. The average hotel room rate was $799, a growth of almost 16% on the 2004 figure.