Hong Kong saw a 2.9% year-on-year drop in visitors in August to 2.68 million, bringing the cumulative arrivals for the year's first eight months to 19.6 million - up 7.3% on the same period last year, the Tourism Board says. 

Except the Mainland, all long- and short-haul market regions recorded a drop in arrivals, being continually affected by a combination of factors in the macro environment like the economic downturn and the Mainland's adjustment in visa policy.

Falls were registered in arrivals from Taiwan (-0.4%), North Asia (-2.9%), South & Southeast Asia (-13.6%), Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific (-15.7%), the Americas (-15.8%), and Europe, Africa & the Middle East (-20.5%).

Mainland arrivals grew 0.8% to 1,699,309, with 63.5% arriving under the Individual Visit Scheme, up 2.6% over a year earlier.

About 60.4% of visitors stayed in the city for at least one night, 4.2 percentage points lower than the same month last year.