Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Hong Kong – the Pearl of the Orient – is on a roll and is rapidly regaining its position as a major tourist destination. Last year it received 44.5 million visitors, an increase of 30.9 per cent over the previous year.
And it started this year with 4.74 million visitors in January, up 24 per cent over the same period in 2024. This is a vast improvement after COVID and the 2019-20 riots which in March 2022 saw an all-time low of only 1,800 visitors.
Tourism is one of the major pillars to Hong Kong’s economy, a point not missed by the Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po when he proposed $1.23 billion for the industry during his budget speech on Wednesday.
In his speech he revealed how things can be done to entice more people to come to Hong Kong and stay longer. For example, he talked of close collaboration within the industry and cited a three-year global strategic partnership agreement with Art Basel to establish immersive experience zones of Hong Kong culture in all four annual Art Basel shows around the world, thus “strengthening Hong Kong’s connection with the global art scene.”
Other ideas to promote distinctive tourism products could include eco-tourism, panda tourism, horse-racing tourism, etc.. Golf was another element. “We will adopt a more strategic approach in continuously attracting sports events which can bring significant economic benefits to Hong Kong and are in discussion with LIV Golf which has been held in Hong Kong for two consecutive years to explore long-term partnership,” he said.
The cruise line business is picking up with some 30 super liners making port calls to Hong Kong last year and bringing in some 330,000 passengers to Hong Kong. This is 12 more cruise liners than in 2023.
The Financial Secretary said he has earmarked resources to strengthen support to the cruise industry, encouraging cruise lines to increase their number of ship calls to Hong Kong, make overnight calls and use Hong Kong as the homeport. “We will provide cruise lines with more concessions to attract cruise ships to berth at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal during the low season,” he said.
An important part of the industry is MICE – Meetings, Inventive travel, Conventions and Exhibitions – which is expected to bring about 183 000 additional visitors spending about $1.4 billion. Hong Kong has secured the hosting rights of the prestigious Lions International Convention in 2026, one of the world's largest service club events. With an estimated 20,000 attendees from over the globe expected to descend upon the city, this annual gathering of Lions Clubs International members promises to be a truly global and significant event.
The Lions International convention is indicative of the capacity Hong Kong has for hosting major events while catering to a daily flow of about 134,000 visitors from the mainland and other places.
With mainland visitors being our bread and butter and constitute the bulk of arrivals, the Central Government has resumed the multiple-entry Individual Visit Endorsements for Shenzhen permanent residents and expanding the arrangement to Shenzhen residence permit holders. Since the implementation of the new measure, more than 700 000 visitors have travelled to Hong Kong on multiple-entry Individual Visit Endorsements. The Central Government has also increased the duty-free allowance for returnees from Hong Kong to the mainland. This decision is expected to generate at least $17.6 billion for the city’s coffers. On average, mainland visitors spend about 3.1 nights in Hong Kong and spend an average of $5,400 per capita.
But as the Central Government relaxes travel for its citizens, the flood gates open for other destinations, mainly in Southeast Asia, to bid for their business. For Hong Kong to maintain this market, more effort is needed in the service sector to improve their attitude towards our neighbours. Service with a smile… always!
Hong Kong cannot rely heavily on the mainland market; it is too easy because of the help from the Central Government. The second number of visitors come from Southeast Asia, and more can be done to tantalise their interest in Hong Kong.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Hong Kong is facing a dilemma as more locals are spending their dollars outside of the city than what the visitors are bringing in.
Relaxed visa/permit restrictions for locals and foreign residents alike is making it easier for travel to the mainland while inbound traffic crossing the boundary is low budget and spending less on accommodation and food.
Tourism is an important pillar for Hong Kong’s economy. In pre-COVID times, tourism accounted for about four per cent of the territory’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided for about six per cent of total employment.
In Hong Kong’s heydays, the city saw about 65 million tourists in 2018, of which 51 million came from the mainland. It was boom time for retailers and restaurants. Long queues of mainland shoppers would line the streets along Canton Road and elsewhere waiting to buy luxury items from Gucci, Prada, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores which set up shop in Hong Kong to tap this lucrative market.
Today many restaurants and retail outlets are closing down, especially in the boundary towns of Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. The market is no longer there, and high rental costs make it almost impossible to survive.
During the 2025/2026 festive season, Hong Kong saw a 25.6 per cent rise in inbound trips on New Year’s Day 2026 (664,338 trips), but this was still countered by a massive 515,954 outbound exits on the same day.
Winston Yeung, chair of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told local media that business was sluggish during the Christmas holiday, with some restaurant owners calling it “the slowest business at Christmas over the past 10 years.”
Unfortunately, the local market is not propping up the tourism outlets. Instead, the locals are traveling in large numbers to Shenzhen and Macau and other parts of China for day trips or extended holidays, thereby providing a leakage in the local economy.
While Hong Kong received more than an estimated 45 million visitors last year, more than about 100 million departures were recorded by the Immigration Department of locals leaving Hong Kong by plane, train or bus mainly to the mainland (75 per cent), and to other major Asian destinations.
Hong Kong has 320 hotels offering 92,907 rooms, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Despite mainlanders’ choice of more budget accommodation, occupancy rates for the hotel industry remained high at 88 per cent last year. The major hotels are not affected by the change in mainlanders’ preferences as they rely more on the affluent international tourist, visiting Hong Kong for business, conventions or holidays.
Property developer, Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) says Hong Kong’s hospitality market currently presents various investment-ready assets including rare investment opportunities for upper upscale and luxury hotels. These high-end properties are particularly attractive due to their resilience, as they are less reliant on Chinese group travelers and enjoy sustained spending power among affluent individual travelers and international visitors. This makes them attractive for investors seeking stable returns in a dynamic market.
To encourage locals to spend more at home and at the same time provide a bonus for tourists, Hong Kong has organised a series of mega events, many held in the new sports stadium on the site of the old Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Traditional events in 2026 will include the French May Arts festival in March, Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Hong Kong performing Arts Expo in October, the World Snooker Grand Prix in February, and, of course, the international dragon boat races in June.
Blockbusters will include BlackPink World tour in January, the Hong Kong marathon, which draws in runners and their supports from around the world, and the Hong Kong Tennis Open also in January.
That is good for the inbound and outbound tourists alike. But more needs to be done to tip the tourism scales to a surplus for Hong Kong’s economy to grow at a faster pace. As the saying goes charity starts at home, so it is up to us as local residents who have reaped the benefits of the city to spend more in local restaurants and retail outlets than spend it elsewhere. Support local enterprises. After all, the restaurants in Hong Kong are ranked among the best in the world and are tax free as against a value-added tax applied to restaurants and shops in the mainland.
