Hong Kong visitor arrivals rise despite post-September 11 fears

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 ◆ Hong Kong visitor arrivals rise despite post-September 11 fears

Visitor arrivals in 2001 rose by 5.1 percent year-on-year to a record 13.7 million, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) said on Monday.

A downturn in arrivals from North America after the September 11 terror attacks in the United States appears to have been more than made up for by massive influx from the Chinese mainland.

In December, the territory received 1.3 million tourists, up 6.4 percent from a year ago -- the highest number of visitors to the territory in a single month, HKTB said in a statement.

Although some of Hong Kong's key source markets showed negative growth in December, the falls were significantly less marked than in October and November.

Arrivals from the Americas were down 10.3 percent year-on-year in December, and from North Asia down 7.5 percent.

Arrivals from the mainland in December, however, rose by 29.1 percent while visitors from South and Southeast Asia grew by 7.4 percent.

Following the September 11 attacks, HKTB downgraded its forecast for growth last year from 7.8 percent to zero.

Executive director Clara Chong said she was "cautiously optimistic" that the recovery would continue.

"We saw the full impact of the terrorist attacks in our October figures but since then, all markets have been showing a steady comeback," she said.

In 2001, 64.7 percent of all visitors stayed for one night or longer, against 67.5 percent the year before.

Average hotel occupancy in 2001 was 79 percent, down four percentage points from 2000.