Visitor arrivals in Hong Kong reached almost 2.17 million in January, a slight fall of 1% on the same month last year, the Tourism Board says.

It reflects a drop in Mainland and Taiwan tourists who usually flock to the city during the Lunar New Year, which occurred in February this year, instead of January.

Mainland tourists fell 8.6% on a year earlier to 1,210,562. North Asia arrivals grew 21.6% to 197,308, while those from Taiwan fell 6.8% to 170,109, and those from South & Southeast Asia rose 9.1% to 184,115.

Europe, Africa and the Middle East saw a combined arrival of 162,618, up 26.6% from the same month last year. Arrivals from the Americas grew 12.5% to 133,976 while those from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific saw an 11.8% rise to 64,217.

Mainland visitors accounted for 55.9% of arrivals. Travellers under the individual visit scheme numbered 649,379, about 53.6% of the Mainland total, and down 7% on the same month last year.

January saw hotel occupancy of all categories unchanged at 85%. Wan Chai and Causeway Bay was the most popular region where occupancy stood at 88%. The average achieved room rate of all hotel categories was $1,177, up 14.4% on a year earlier.