Hong Kong's visitor arrivals down around 40% in August

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's visitor arrivals dropped to about 3.59 million in August, down 39.1 percent compared with the same month a year ago, Hong Kong Tourism Board said on Monday.

The statistics showed that visitor arrivals from the Chinese mainland decreased by 42.3 percent year-on-year to about 2.78 million.

In August, visitor arrivals from all Hong Kong tourism markets with the exception of China's Macao Special Administrative Region fell, as the statistics showed.

By Sept 27, around 40 countries and regions have issued travel warnings to Hong Kong. The statistics also showed that Hong Kong's short-haul, long-haul and new markets decreased by 32.1 percent, 20.6 percent, 23.3 percent respectively.

As for short-haul markets, visitor arrivals from Thailand, Singapore and South Korea all saw a decline of over 30 percent. The United States dropped 25.5 percent, making it the biggest decliner in long-haul markets. And new markets such India, Vietnam and Russia also saw a plunge in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong.