Hong Kong and Macao economies have benefited tremendously from the robust inbound tourism, which remained the only bright spot of the major components of Hong Kong's services exports in the first half of the year amid a slowing global economy.

According to Hong Kong's Half-yearly Economic Report 2012, during the first six months of this year, resulting from a worsened external trading environment, Hong Kong's total goods' exports remained weak; exports of services likewise decelerated and recorded only a modest growth.

"The inbound tourism was the only bright spot, thanks to thriving growth of the mainland visitors." The government said in the report.

Hong Kong's exports of travel services totaled HK$112.8 billion in the first half of this year, increased 9.9 percent from a year ago, accounting for 24 percent of the city's total service exports.

The inbound tourism sector's performance continued to put up a robust show in the first half, with the total number of visitor arrivals surging by 15.5 percent over a year earlier to 22.3 million.

Of the figure, mainland visitors surged by 22.7 percent to 15.6 million in the first half, accounting for 69.8 percent of the total visitor arrivals. But the other markets were much weaker, especially in the second quarter.

Of all the visitors, the same-day visitors soared by 25.3 percent in the first half, much faster than the 6.8 percent growth in overnight visitors. As a result, the share of same-day visitors of total arrivals expanded from 46.8 percent a year earlier to 50.8 percent in the first half.

Supported by the strong incoming visitors' growth, the average hotel room occupancy rate in Hong Kong stayed at a high 87 percent level in the first half of 2012. In parallel, the average achieved hotel room rate rose further by 12 percent over a year earlier to HK$1,446.

Meanwhile, according to the Macao Government Tourist office, the total number of visitor arrivals was 13.58 million in the first six months of this year, increasing 2.5 percent from a year ago; and among the visitors, 59.7 percent were from the mainland.

The percentage of overnight visitors increased marginally from 46.2 percent in 2011 to 47 percent, driving up the city's hotels' average room rate by 9.1 percent to MOP$1,418.6 ($177). Macao's hotels' occupancy rate over the period was 81.58 percent, 0.42 percentage lower from a year ago.

According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau Macao SAR, for the first six months of this year, the accumulated gross revenue from fames of fortune was MOP$148.73 billion, representing a 19.8 percent increase compared with the same period in 2011.

Gaming expense in Macao accounts for a major part of visitors expenditure, official data shows. In the first quarter of this year, the total visitor expenditure was MOP$77.28 billion, 19.8 percent more than it was a year ago, out of which, MOP$67.04 billion was gaming expenses, and around MOP$10.24 billion were expenses related to accommodation and other expenses.

sophiehe@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 09/11/2012 page2)