Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced that the provisional total number of visitor arrivals in 2020 was 3.57 million, a 93.6% drop from 2019. Arrivals in January 2020 alone accounted for the majority of the annual total.
As COVID-19 started to spread around the world in February, Hong Kong limited entry to overseas visitors and introduced stringent quarantine measures from mid-March onwards. Most people arriving in Hong Kong thereafter were visiting family members or traveling for other essential reasons, reducing the number of tourists to almost zero.
HKTB Chairman Dr. YK Pang said: “The tourism industry has been through an extremely tough year. The Hong Kong Tourism Board has renewed its strategies and approach in response to the immense challenges of the pandemic.”
“As visitors could not come to Hong Kong in person, we took the initiative to concentrate on improving the city’s atmosphere and ambiance while maintaining its international exposure, so as to attract visitors back to Hong Kong as soon as the COVID-19 situation eases,” added Pang.
Looking ahead to 2021, the HKTB is well prepared for the resumption of travel. “We will further strengthen our cooperation with the travel trade to jointly develop new products and itineraries and enhance Hong Kong’s service quality to ensure we are ready to welcome visitors back with warm hospitality when the pandemic situation is stabilized,” said HKTB Chairman.
Competition for visitors around the region is expected to be fiercer than ever in the post-pandemic era. The HKTB has therefore taken a number of steps over the past year to maintain Hong Kong’s international exposure with a view to bringing visitors back as soon as possible when the outbreak subsides.
