Hong Kong sees increase of mainland tourists over week-long holiday

Hong Kong logged about 1.216 million visitor arrivals from the Chinese mainland during the seven-day National Day holiday ending Monday, up by around 100,000 from the same holiday last year, data from the Hong Kong Immigration Department showed Tuesday.

About 221,000 arrivals were recorded on Oct 1, the first day of the holiday, up from 177,000 a year earlier, the data showed.

Some 1,100 tour groups visited Hong Kong, and around 70 percent of these tourists chose to stay at least overnight, said Alice Chan, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, noting that only half of tour group participants did the same a year ago.

"Many standard hotels were booked out, and even luxury hotels were about 90 percent booked. The tourism market outperformed expectations," said Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association.

Hong Kong on its part has worked to draw crowds. Over 3,600 eateries in Hong Kong offered discounts on Oct 1, which put the estimated daily revenue at 300 million Hong Kong dollars (about $38.6 million). Some scenic spots also rolled out promotional campaigns.