HK visitor arrivals up 14.4% in April

HONG KONG - Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in April recorded about 3.84 million, up 14.4 percent from a year earlier, the city's Tourism Board announced on Tuesday.

The growth was mainly led by the increased visitor traffic from the Chinese mainland, with overall arrivals up 23.9 percent year on year to 2.65 million. Of these, 64.3 percent, or about 1.7 million, traveled under the individual visit scheme, up 26 percent from April 2011.

Short-haul region arrivals recorded a 3.7 percent year-on-year drop, while long-haul region arrivals were similar to last year's April level.

The US and Europe recorded a 2 percent increase each, and the Russian market continued its impressive growth, rising 30.1 percent.

Statistics also showed cumulative arrivals from January to April 2012 rose 15.3 percent to 15.1 million from a year ago, with growth across all market regions.