Those fears seemed to be borne out when mainland authorities stopped issuing tour-group visas from October 1 to 7, in what local agencies described as "unprecedented" action. The also learned from mainland firms that they had been advised to stop organising tours to the city.

But it turned out to be a temporary halt that was limited in scale and never put down officially on paper.

The council's executive director, Joseph Tung Yao-chung, said the China National Tourism Administration denied issuing any directive banning tours to Hong Kong, saying it had only advised agencies to "be careful" given the situation.

The dramatic increase in group tour numbers was due to the relatively low number last year, he said yesterday.

"A new tourism law implemented last year discouraged the organisation of group tours," Tung said.

That law, which came into effect in October last year, bans unreasonably cheap tours in which prices cannot cover costs such as airline tickets and accommodation. It aims to combat the infamous "forced shopping" trips on which tour-group members are taken to certain shops that then pay their agencies sales commissions in return.

When the law came in, tour agencies were initially discouraged from organising any group tours that could be problematic, as they were unsure of how the mainland authorities would interpret the legislation.

A year on, agencies are more familiar with the law and more confident about what is acceptable and what isn't.

Visitor numbers - including group tours - rose 6.8 per cent to 1.09 million during the National Day "golden week" holiday from October 1 to 7.

In the first eight months of the year, mainland arrivals rose 15.5 per cent to 31 million compared with the same time last year.

They made up 77.5 per cent of total visitor numbers, according to Tourism Board statistics.

Last year, 67.4 per cent of 40.7 million mainlanders crossed the border under the individual visit scheme, which allows residents of 49 mainland cities to visit without joining group tours.