After bumper year of incoming tourism, Hong Kong expects slower growth in 2015
Tourism Board figures for last year also show that average spending per visitor - excluding day-trippers - fell for the first time in a decade
The growth in the number of tourists visiting Hong Kong will slow down this year after a robust increase in 2014, the Tourism Board is predicting - while it noted that spending last year by tourists, excluding day-trippers, fell for the first time in a decade.
Hong Kong Disneyland bucked that trend when it released figures yesterday showing record profits and per capita spending up by 11 per cent.
According to the board's figures released yesterday, the number of tourist arrivals last year reached 60.84 million - a 12 per cent increase and above expectations in light of the Occupy protests. The number of visits by mainlanders increased by 16 per cent to 47.25 million, about 77 per cent of the total.
The board expects growth in the overall number of visitor arrivals this year to slow to 6.4 per cent, and puts the share of mainlanders at almost 79 per cent.
Its conservative outlook was due to China's slowing economy and competition from other Asian destinations, said Anthony Lau Chun-hon, executive director of the Tourism Board, adding: "This year is going to be a very, very tough year for us."
He said the tourist industry had been asking the government to work towards getting more mainland cities signed up to the individual visitor scheme, which allows residents of 49 mainland cities to travel independently to Hong Kong.