Since Hong Kong fully reopened to travelers in February last year, after three years of strict pandemic rules, mainland Chinese visitors have primarily returned to the city. According to Hong Kong Tourism Board data, the number of mainland tourists in the last quarter of 2023 had recovered to around 80% of the average in the five years between 2015 and 2019.
However, long-haul tourists have seen a slower recovery, with just about 60% of the average number of visitors from 2015 to 2019. Visitors from South and Southeast Asia recorded the fastest growth, while numbers from Europe and the United States lagged behind.
During the fourth quarter of 2023, Hong Kong saw a significant decrease in long-haul tourists visiting from the UK and the US. Compared to the same period in 2018, the city welcomed only 72,035 UK tourists and 216,965 US visitors instead of 158,702 and 377,613, respectively. Experts have attributed this…