HK sees 20.5% growth in tourism  

香港8月访港旅客增20.5%

香港旅游发展局28日公布，8月访港旅客约489万人次，按年增长20.5%。

Hong Kong (CNS) -- Hong Kong received 4.89 million tourists in August, up 20.5 percent over 2011, the local tourism board said on Thursday.

About 3.73 million visits were contributed by mainlanders, 67.1 percent of which were individual trips, adding up to a year-on-year growth of 28 percent.

The short-distance tourism sector saw a growth of 4.2 percent over 2011. Specifically, the number of visitors from Central and North Asia grew by 7.9 percent; the number of South Asian and Southeast Asian visitors increased by 3.1 percent; and there was a slight growth of 0.1 percent in the number of visitors from Taiwan, said the board.

Long-distance tourists decreased by 3.8 percent year-one-year, mainly due to a drop in tourists from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the U.S.

Visits to Hong Kong accumulated to 31.59 million during the first eight months of this year, up 16 percent over 2011.