Mainland visitor arrivals during the Lunar New Year holiday rose 13.5% to 729,614, bringing the total arrivals from all markets to 1,072,648, up 10.2% over the same period last year, the Tourism Board says.

Board chairman James Tien today said the higher-than-expected growth of Mainland arrivals has reaffirmed Hong Kong's draw as a destination to enjoy the Golden Week holiday.

"The increase in arrivals could be attributed to visits by Mainland visitors, especially those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme, during the latter part of the holiday as the weather conditions improved. Also, some Mainland visitors switched their travel destination from Mainland cities to Hong Kong due to the poor weather in some provinces," Mr Tien said.

He said the board sees new windows of promoting travel to Hong Kong under the Mainland's new holiday arrangements.

"As far as Guangdong province is concerned, one of our promotional focuses will be weekend family travel. As for farther and non-Guangdong regions, such as Beijing and Shanghai, we'll promote Hong Kong as the ideal short-break destination, and encourage Mainland visitors to come to Hong Kong during the combined festive holidays and weekends."