About tourism industry in HK

Tourism had been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, and was forecasted to grow more than 8 per cent in 2003. The sector accounted for 5.7 per cent of Hong Kong's GDP in 2001 and employed 10.7 per cent of the total workforce. Asian visitors account for about 80 per cent of Hong Kong tourists' arrivals. With SARS inducing fear and travel "ban" to and from many Asian countries, the tourism industry was battered worst amongst all industries. According to Immigration Department , daily total arrivals and departures at the airport fell from 61,400 on 14 March 2003 to 32,500 on 2 April 2003. These figures dropped further as the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued its travel advisory on 2 April. The figures also showed that arrivals at the airport had fallen faster than departures.

In 2001, total number of arrivals was a record number of 13.7 million visitors with total tourism receipts amounted to HK$ 64.3 billion. A 10 per cent decrease in the number of visitors to Hong Kong in the last two weeks of March had cost the tourism industry an estimated HK$300 million. In April both inbound and outbound traffic dropped 90 per cent compared with same period last year, incurred an average monthly loss of HK$ 6 billion in the industry. The mainland's decision to scale back this year's Labour Day holidays came as yet another blow. Last year, an estimated 173,000 visitors came to Hong Kong from mainland China. The authorities had originally estimated that about 400,000 visitors would travel to Hong Kong during the week-long holiday, but the impact of SARS, the travel advisory and the cutback so this so-called "Golden Week" have written off the potential tourists businesses.
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The tourism industry has been an important part of the economy of Hong Kong since it shifted to a service sector model in the late 1980s and early 90s. There has been a sharp increase of tourists from Mainland China, due to the introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003.

The total tourism expenditure associated to inbound tourism reached HK$117.3 billion in 2006. Overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in 2006 increased by 8.1% to 25.25 million, which was lower than what the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) had expected. The HKTB had initial expectations of 27 million visitor arrivals. Visitor arrivals from Mainland China exceeded 13.5 million. Arrivals in December 2006 exceeded 2.4 million, setting an outright record for a single month.While facing increasing competition from Mainland cities and Macau, the Hong Kong Tourism Board works closely with authorities and trade to make Hong Kong an essential component in all combo and multi-destination itineraries.
In December 2006, there were 612 hotels and tourist guest houses in Hong Kong, with 52,512 rooms. The average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels and tourist guesthouses was 87% for the whole of 2006, a one-percentage-point growth compared with 2005 in spite of the 7.4% increase in Hong Kong's room supply between December 2005 and December 2006. During 2006, 62.7% of all visitors stayed one night or longer, which is a trend reflecting Hong Kong's increasing importance as a regional transport hub.

Almost any of the districts of Hong Kong can be considered a tourist destination. The following locations are areas generally marked as main attractions. Hong Kong IslandVictoria Peak Stanley Repulse Bay International Finance Centre Victoria Harbour Aberdeen Harbour Lan Kwai Fong Soho Ocean Park Hong Kong