HONG KONG – The second half of 2019 was one for tightening the tourism belt for Hong Kong.
The HKTB has already launched promotions in a number of short-haul markets, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand, and we will soon extend those promotions to other markets such as Japan and long-haul markets,– Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Dr YK Pang
The city’s 2019 tourist arrivals were down to 55.9 million, marking a decrease of 14.2% for the whole year.
The year started well, with a healthy increase during Q1 of 13.9% but this was more than cancelled out by the second half’s significant decline of 39.1%.
All source markets showed a decline, with the mainland arrivals dropping 14.2%. Short haul markets fell by 18.7%, long-haul by 12.7% and overnight visitors by 18.8%.
“Hong Kong’s tourism industry has faced exceptional challenges over the past year, but I have every confidence in our resilience and appeal as a world-class travel destination,” said Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Dr YK Pang.
“The HKTB has already launched promotions in a number of short-haul markets, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand, and we will soon extend those promotions to other markets such as Japan and long-haul markets,” he added.
The new Hong Kong is ON campaign has already registered interest in its promotion of more than 500 offers spanning flights, hotels, dining and retail and activities and attractions.
Talking about flights, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has released its statistics for 2019, with decreases in passenger volume (4.2%) and flight movements (1.9%) to 71.5 million and 419,730 respectively.
December was a particularly tough month, with 33,990 flight movements registering a decline of 8.4% year-on-year, and a 12.5% drop in passenger volume to 5.7 million.
A chink in the clouds came with the growth of transfer and transit traffic of 14% - the airport also won the Skytrax award for ‘World’s Best Airport Dining’ in 2019.
In addition, Hong Kong resident travel was up 9%.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to enhance the airport’s facilities to improve the passenger experience at HKIA even more,” said Vivian Cheung, executive director of airport operations for the Airport Authority Hong Kong.
“Following the commissioning of the Terminal 1 (T1) extension and the revamp of the East Hall food court in 2019, our enhancements of T1 will continue with gate transformation, the commissioning of Sky Bridge and the extension of Car Park 4.”