But in the nine months ended Sept. 30, the number of visitors to Hong Kong fell 2.8% from a year earlier to 21.2 million, the tourism board said in a statement. It said the fall was mainly due to a sharp drop in visitors during the first half because of the global financial crisis and the swine flu outbreak.
In September, there were 1.3 million tourists from mainland China, up 6.1% from a year earlier, it said.
The number of visitors from Southeast Asia rose 18% from a year earlier to 251,154 because of several public holidays in the region, the tourism board said.
However, visitor numbers from major developed markets continued to fall in September. Visitors from Australia fell 7.4% from a year earlier to 64,176 and those from the Americas dropped 1.5% to 112,111.