Hong Kong down but not out
HONG KONG – The number of visitors to Hong Kong from Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific fell by 7.2 percent in full year 2009 to a total of 707,963 visitors.
Numbers from Australia alone were down 6.8 percent.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board said the economic downturn and the reduction in flight capacity caused overall arrivals from long haul regions to decrease by 6.5 percent in 2009.
“This was, nevertheless, a significant improvement over the double-digit decline in the early part of the year,†said HKTB.
“As the economy showed signs of improvement towards the end of 2009, positive growth was recorded in arrivals from Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific in the last two months.â€
Of the 29,590,654 visitors who came to the city in 2009, 16.9 million (57.2 percent) stayed overnight, 1.5 percentage points fewer than in 2008.
The remaining 12.7 million were classified as “same-day in-town†visitors, departing for another destination on the same day as arrival.
The average hotel occupancy rate across all categories of hotels in 2009 was 78 percent, seven percentage points lower than the figure of the previous year.
Occupancy for top-tariff hotels averaged 72 percent in 2009, a seven-percentage-point decrease over 2008, while those in the second and third tiers reached 81 percent and 80 percent, as compared with 87 percent and 86 percent in the previous year.
Hotels in Yau Ma Tei / Mong Kok achieved the highest average occupancy over the year, at 84 percent.
The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories and districts in 2009 was HK$1,023, representing a decrease of 16.3 percent on the 2008 figure.
Ian Jarrett
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