Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong exceeded 2.45 million in July, representing growth of 12.3% compared with the same month in 2006, and average occupancy across all categories of hotels in July was 90%, says the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

This took cumulative arrivals for January-July 2007 to over 15.48 million, 7.7% more than in the same period last year.

Visitors from Mainland China represented 56.6% of July arrivals. Travelers under the Individual Visit Scheme in July numbered 799,582, 57.5% of the Mainland total and 30.7% more than in the same month last year.

Over 1.55 million July arrivals (63.2% of the total) stayed in the city for at least one night, with the remainder of more than 904,000 (36.8%) classified as same-day in-town visitors. Between January and July 2007, there were more than 9.43 million overnight visitor arrivals (60.9% of the total), while those who left on the same day of arrival reached 6.05 million (39.1%).

Overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong numbered 2,455,224 in July, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%. Cumulative arrivals for January to July stood at 15,484,592, a growth of 7.7% compared with the same period in 2006.

Arrivals from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the strongest market region in July, reached 170,062. Among the individual markets in this region, both the U.K. (43,924 arrivals, +24.8%) and the Middle East (16,844 arrivals, +32.5%) registered significant gain in July. The cumulative 7-month arrivals numbered 1,201,425, a 16.3% increase.

Some 63.2% of all visitors to Hong Kong in July stayed in the city for at least one night, 1.3 percentage points lower than for the same month last year. The remaining 36.8% same-day in-town visitors either returned home or left for another destination on the same day as arrival.

The average achieved hotel room rate across all hotel categories for the month was HK$1,033, 12.6% higher than in July 2006. The average occupancy across all categories of hotels for January-July 2007 was 84%, two percentage points lower than in the same period in 2006. The average achieved room rate across all hotel categories was HK$1,157, 12.6% higher than in the first seven months of 2006.