Hong Kong Tourism Board eyes eGames amid slump in visitor numbers
Overall 2016 arrivals fall 4.5pc to 56.65 million amid tightening of regulations for Shenzhen permanent residents
Travel restrictions on Shenzhen permanent residents visiting Hong Kong had “a greater and longer” adverse impact on the city’s tourist arrival figures than expected last year, according to a senior Hong Kong Tourism Board official.
Executive director Anthony Lau Chun-hon said on Wednesday that the number of Shenzhen visitors with a one-visit-per-week permit declined 29.4 per cent to 8.88 million people last year from 2015. This dragged down overall visitor numbers to Hong Kong by 4.5 per cent to 56.65 million people last year.
About three in every four visitors to Hong Kong were from across the border.
“The impact [of the visa restriction] is greater and longer than we expected,” Lau said.
Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok said: “The visa issue is still affecting the overall visitor numbers. It is hard to quantify its impact on 2017.”