The Hong Kong Tourism Board recently announced that visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in October 2010 rose 18% year on year to 3.26 million.

The sustained growth momentum in overall arrivals was led by the rise of mainland arrivals during the National Day Golden Week holiday. In the first 10 months of 2010, total visitor arrivals rose to 29.43 million, 23% more than the same period last year.

In the first 10 months of 2010, arrivals from Mainland China added up to over 18.53 million, surpassing the 2009 full-year figure. The strong performance reflects the continued growth of outbound travel among mainland residents, as fuelled by the robust mainland economy, as well as the popularity of Hong Kong as a travel destination for mainland visitors. In October alone, mainland arrivals went up by over 20% compared to last year.

The tourism board also said that, in October 2010, the number of overnight visitors rose 11.3% year on year to surpass 1.73 million, accounting for 53.2% of all visitors to Hong Kong. Overnight visitors in the first 10 months of 2010 rose to 16.44 million, or 55.9% of all visitors to Hong Kong,a year-on-year growth of 20.6%.