Tourism in Hong Kong
Hong Kong recorded a total of 29 million tourists in 2018, ranking 14th in the world in absolute terms.That smaller countries regularly perform lower in a comparison of the absolute number of guests, is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Hong Kong, the result is much more comparable picture: With 3.9 tourists per resident, Hong Kong ranked 18th in the world. In East Asia, it ranked 2nd.
Hong Kong generated around 41.87 billion US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 11.45 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 22 percent of all international tourism receipts in East Asia.
A global comparison can be found here › International tourism
Back to overview: Hong Kong
The city of Hongkong is very popular with international travellers. In 2018 it reached the 1st place of the world's most popular cities with 29.26 million tourists.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2018 spent about 1,278 US Dollars. Conversely, the inhabitants of Hong Kong spend only around 257 dollars a year when they themselves spend vacations abroad.
Development of the tourism sector in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2018
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Hong Kong each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 6 countries in East Asia.
Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 9.60 billion USD, or about 6.6 percent of the gross national product. Within 23 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased noticeably. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 41.87 billion USD, accounting for 11.58 percent of the gross national product. Each visitor now spends an average of 1,431 USD for his holiday in Hong Kong.
All data for Hong Kong in detail
| Year | Number of tourists | Receipts | % of GNP | Receipts per tourist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 7.14 m | 7.34 bn $ | 4.3 % | 1,028 $ |
| 1999 | 7.84 m | 7.34 bn $ | 4.4 % | 937 $ |
| 2000 | 8.81 m | 8.20 bn $ | 4.8 % | 930 $ |
| 2001 | 8.88 m | 7.92 bn $ | 4.7 % | 892 $ |
| 2002 | 10.69 m | 9.85 bn $ | 5.9 % | 921 $ |
| 2003 | 9.68 m | 9.00 bn $ | 5.6 % | 931 $ |
| 2004 | 13.66 m | 11.87 bn $ | 7.0 % | 870 $ |
| 2005 | 14.77 m | 13.59 bn $ | 7.5 % | 920 $ |
| 2006 | 15.82 m | 15.54 bn $ | 8.0 % | 982 $ |
| 2007 | 17.15 m | 18.24 bn $ | 8.6 % | 1,063 $ |
| 2008 | 17.32 m | 20.24 bn $ | 9.2 % | 1,168 $ |
| 2009 | 16.93 m | 20.29 bn $ | 9.5 % | 1,199 $ |
| 2010 | 20.09 m | 27.21 bn $ | 11.90 % | 1,355 $ |
| 2011 | 22.32 m | 33.17 bn $ | 13.35 % | 1,486 $ |
| 2012 | 23.77 m | 37.10 bn $ | 14.13 % | 1,561 $ |
| 2013 | 25.66 m | 42.43 bn $ | 15.39 % | 1,653 $ |
| 2014 | 27.77 m | 46.35 bn $ | 15.90 % | 1,669 $ |
| 2015 | 26.69 m | 42.49 bn $ | 13.73 % | 1,592 $ |
| 2016 | 26.55 m | 37.84 bn $ | 11.79 % | 1,425 $ |
| 2017 | 27.88 m | 38.17 bn $ | 11.19 % | 1,369 $ |
| 2018 | 29.26 m | 41.87 bn $ | 11.58 % | 1,431 $ |
All data correspond to the information of the World Tourism Organization.