The statistics tell a tale of unrivalled tourism success. Hong Kong has seen its visitor numbers treble in a decade to the point where they now outnumber the city's own residents by four to one and, on the face of it, surpass the tourism achievements of London and New York.
The local tourism industry has never had it so good. A record 28.1 million people visited the city last year, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), and the outlook for this year is even better, with up to 30.4 million expected.
It's a stellar statistic when compared to the 15 million tourists a year who visit London and the 7.25 million who go to New York. Malaysia received 20.9 million tourists last year, a rise of 19.5 per cent on 2006 but still far behind Hong Kong's figures. And Thailand, with all its beaches and laid-back charm, recorded a mere 13.9 million in 2006.
But the figures are arguably less impressive when one knows how they are arrived at, and some overseas tourism officials complain the method Hong Kong uses, which appears to cause confusion even on the official Beijing Olympics website, lacks credibility.
Part of Hong Kong's surge in tourism over the past 10 years - from 9.7 million to the current level - is attributable to the growing number of mainland visitors, who last year accounted for 15.4 million, or more than half of the total.
Their numbers have been boosted since the introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme in 2003, which made border crossings easier.
The disparity between arrivals in Hong Kong and other destinations is due to the HKTB's choice of the term 'visitor' rather than 'tourist'.
