Hong Kong visitor arrivals up 16 percent in 11 months

The Hong Kong Administrative Region recorded about 45 million visitor arrivals in the first 11 months of 2025, up 12 percent year on year, surpassing the total number of visitors for the entire year of 2024, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) said Monday.

Among them, approximately 34.50 million visitor arrivals were from the mainland, rising 11 percent from last year. Visitor arrivals from elsewhere expanded 16 percent year on year to about 10 million, the data showed.

In addition, the data indicated that both the short-distance and long-distance markets recorded growth of nearly 20 percent in these 11 months.

Influenza activity in China has declined for four consecutive weeks, with recent tests showing common pathogens and no evidence of new infectious diseases, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.

At its first press briefing of 2026, the commission reported that flu activity nationwide remains moderate at the moment.

According to Xin Li, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, respiratory samples collected from sentinel hospitals indicated that the influenza virus was the most common pathogen, accounting for 27.4 percent of cases, followed by respiratory syncytial virus at 8.8 percent and rhinovirus at 5.7 percent.

"Influenza activity in China has declined for four consecutive weeks and remains at a moderate level overall. Analysis of nationwide fever clinic consultations, influenza-like illness cases at sentinel hospitals, and multi-pathogen testing shows that all detected pathogens are known common ones, with no evidence of unknown pathogens or new infectious diseases," Xin told the press.

Data from sentinel hospitals indicated flu activity was falling across provincial-level regions, while reports of school outbreaks dropped for five consecutive weeks. Laboratory tests showed that 97.3 percent of positive influenza samples were H3N2 subtype viruses.