Hong Kong residents made 40.1 million personal trips to the Mainland last year, up 4 percent, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department said Thursday.

The number of outbound trips to the Mainland rose at an average rate of 9 percent a year between 1995 and 2005. The figure grew 5. 2 percent to 62.8 million personal-trips last year.

Of all the trips to the Mainland, personal travel accounted for 64 percent, to 40.1 million person-trips last year. This was 4 percent higher on 2004. In terms of destination, 52 percent of the personal trips were for Shenzhen in Guangdong province, 42 percent for other places in Guangdong and the remaining 6 percent for other places outside the province.

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