HONG Kong's tourist industry provides a major contribution to the local economy, only second in importance to the textile and garment industry.
It is also an industry with a tremendous growth rate, and is flexible enough to cope with changes.
After a long period of expansion in the 1980s, growth still occurred during the Tiananmen Square and Gulf War crises.
When the long-haul travel market from Europe and the United States was slow, visitors arrived in increasing numbers from Southeast Asia.
Now, the main growth rate is from China, which has overtaken Taiwan as Hong Kong's major market.
Latest figures show that, in September, 152,000 mainland visitors arrived in Hong Kong - an increase of 49.5 per cent over the same month last year, and over 10,000 more than Taiwan's total, which is declining.
