Hong Kong Tourism Board announces 34 million full-year visitor arrivals in 2023

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced provisional whole-year visitor arrivals of 34 million in 2023 on Wednesday, about four million of whom visited in December.

Hong Kond Tourism Board said on a full-year basis, the Mainland remained the largest visitor source market for Hong Kong, with 'satisfactory' visitor arrivals during Labour Day Golden Week, the summer holidays, and National Day Golden Week.

On the other hand, the Southeast Asian markets recovered the most quickly, the board said in a statement.


Hong Kong Tourism Board said visitor arrivals from the Philippines and Thailand in December exceeded the pre-pandemic level (average of years 2017 and 2018), reaching 116% and 106% of the pre-pandemic level respectively. By travel purpose, the number of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing and Exhibitions) travellers recovered to about 70% of that before the pandemic, surpassing the leisure segment and making it the fastest recovering segment.

Overnight visitors accounted for half the travellers, a higher proportion than before the pandemic. The average length of stay was 3.6 nights, which was also longer than that before the pandemic. According to a survey by the tourism board, overnight visitor satisfaction was 8.7 points out of 10, exceeding the pre-pandemic levels.

Dane Cheng, executive director, Hong Kong Tourism Board said in the past year, the Hong Kong Tourism Board focused on reconnecting with visitors around the world to drive the steady recovery of Hong Kong’s tourism.

"Through the Hello Hong Kong large-scale global promotional campaign, not only did we successfully broadcast Hong Kong’s normalcy and welcome to visitors, but also rolled out various promotions as visitor’s travel behaviour shifted after the pandemic. For instance, we have stepped up promotions on High Speed Rail (HSR) tourism in the HSR markets located within five hours’ ride from Hong Kong. At the same time, we also brought back our series of mega events to strengthen the positive ambience locally and attract visitors to enjoy in person, which enhanced Hong Kong’s tourism appeal and reaffirmed our position as an international travel destination in an all-round approach," he added.

Hong Kong Tourism Board said in the coming year, it will continue to capitalise on the latest global travel trends and consumer demand, conducting targeted promotions in various visitor source markets to greatly boost travellers’ interest in visiting Hong Kong and make the city a top of-mind destination. The board said it will continue to stage mega events aimed at maximising the contribution of the tourism industry to the overall economy.