In the first ten months of this year, Hong Kong received 41 million tourist visits, 76% of which came from mainland China. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the number of tourists to Hong Kong nearly disappeared. In recent years, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has increased and is gradually approaching pre-pandemic levels.
According to a Central News Agency report, the Hong Kong Tourism Board announced on the 17th that 4.6 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong in October, an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year. From January to October this year, the cumulative number of arrivals was 41 million, an increase of 12% over the same period last year, with visitors from the mainland accounting for 31.44 million, which is an increase of 11%.
During the same period, there were 9.62 million visitors from other overseas markets, up 16%, with Taiwan, Australia, and the Middle East markets performing particularly well.
Tourism has always been one of Hong Kong's major economic pillars. In 2016, it accounted for 5% of local GDP and provided 258,900 jobs, which was 7% of the total employment. In 2017, arrivals reached 58.5 million, rising to 65.15 million in 2018.
The outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 led Hong Kong authorities to gradually close all border crossings, causing the number of tourists to basically disappear. This dealt a severe blow to the tourism, retail, and catering industries, and weakened the economy.