Tourism September arrivals dropped, yet at 83% of pre-Covid levels

Visitor arrivals in September dropped 28.6% month-on-month to 2.30 million, following a post-pandemic record-breaking figure in August due to the summer holidays.

The figure, however, soared to 312.5% when compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Recovery is still underway as September figures were 83% of pre-Covid levels, as September 2019 recorded approximately 2.76 million visitor arrivals.

In relation to the source of visitors, the number of visitors from mainland China jumped by 216.2% year-on-year to 1.59 million with those traveling under the Individual Visit Scheme (746,605) surging by 296.8%.

Visitors from Hong Kong (534,755) and Taiwan (50,660) rocketed by 1,058% and 665.8% year-on-year respectively.

Analysed by checkpoint, the number of visitor arrivals by land increased by 249.3% year-on-year to 1,837,842 in September; among them, 44.8% arrived through the checkpoint of Border Gate (822,883), 31.9% came via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (587,149) and 16.4% via the Hengqin port (301,644).

Meanwhile, visitor arrivals by sea and by air leapt by 1,980.4% and 918.5% year-on-year to 274,423 and 188,791 respectively, albeit from a low base as restrictions were still in place during the same period last year.

In the first three quarters of 2023, visitor arrivals increased by 356.6% year-on-year to 19,928,168.

Chung Yeung sees 300,000 visitors

A total of 301,705 tourists visited the city over the Chung Yeung festival extended weekend, which lasted from Friday to Monday. One-third of the visitors arrived through the Border Gate.

The figure shows the city has sustained its momentum with an average of 100,568 visitors per day, following the nearly one million arrivals during the National Day Golden Week. Staff Reporter

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