The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has announced that the provisional visitor arrivals for May reached up to 3.4 million, showing a 20 pc year-on-year increase, while a total of 18 million visitors were received between January to May this year, an increase of 80 pc from the same period last year.

In a press statement, HKTB says that mainland visitors in May accounted for 2.63 million, about 15 pc increase from the same period last year.

It adds that non-mainland visitors increased by 43 pc year on year, recording more than 770,000. Of these, 419,261 were short-haul visitors in May, which surged 52.5 pc year-on-year.

In contrast, Hong Kong received about 206,035 long-haul visitors in May, up by 41.6 pc y-o-y. This totalled to 1.19 million visitors between January to May, a rise of 107.8 pc y-o-y.

Interestingly, 62,021 visitors explored new markets in Hong Kong in May, a notable 116.8 pc increase. From January to May, 261,075 visitors were received from new markets, catering to the highest y-o-y increase of the lot at 174.9 pc.