Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong saw a year-on-year rise of 7.6% in November to 2,606,085, the Tourism Board says.

The Mainland market had the largest increase of 13.3% because consumption visits by Shenzhen permanent residents rose as they could apply for multiple entry endorsement under Individual Visit Scheme from last April.

Visitors from South and Southeast Asia rose 5.2%, in which India recorded year-on-year growth of 28.5% due to the rise in flight capacity since September.

Emerging markets showed robust growth, including Russia (37.8%) and the Middle East (42.4%).

All long-haul regions recorded positive gains. Europe, Africa and the Middle East rose 4.4% over last year, while the Americas and Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific increased 2.4% and 3.8%.

Cumulative arrivals for January to November were down 0.7% on the same period in 2008. The Mainland was the only region showing positive growth of 5.7%.

About 58.1% of visitors stayed in the city at least one night, 0.9 of a percentage point lower than in the same month last year. Hotel occupancy across all hotel categories was 89%, up one percentage point.