In-bound tourists' total spending grew 12.7% to a record  $119.43 billion in 2006, exceeding the forecast by $4.7 billion, the Hong Kong Tourism Board says.

This highlights tourism's increasing contribution to Hong Kong's economy, with all market regions recording increases in total and per capita spending.

Per capita spending rises

The average per capita spending of overnight visitors rose 2.9% to $4,799, while that of the same-day in-town visitors was up 25.3% to $1,015 last year.

In February, there were 2,286,100 overall tourist arrivals, an increase of 18.2% compared with the same month in 2006. Cumulative arrivals for the first two months climbed to 4,452,653 - 8% more than the same period in 2006.

That month, 1,481,029 arrivals from the Mainland took the cumulative total for the first two months of 2007 to 2,691,591 - a year-on-year increase of 9.1%.

Individual visit scheme arrivals numbered 918,310 - 62% of all Mainland visitors - and 59.9% more than in the same month in 2006.

Hotel occupancy drops

February saw overall hotel occupancy at 80%, a fall of 7% compared with the same month in 2006. Hotels in Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok recorded the highest occupancy at 84%.