Hong Kong saw an 8.1% year-on-year drop in visitors in February to 2.16 million, bringing the cumulative arrivals for this year's first two months to 4.96 million, 1.8% ahead of the same period last year, the Tourism Board says.

Arrivals from the Mainland dropped 6.7% to 1.35 million. About 57.5% arrived under the Individual Visit Scheme - 9.6% less than the same period last year.

Falls were recorded in other markets including Taiwan (-17.3%), North Asia (-14.4%), Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific (-10.8%), the Americas (-11.4%), and Europe, Africa & the Middle East (-11.7%).

About 58.3% of visitors stayed in the city for at least one night, 0.7 of a percentage point lower than the same month last year.