Hong Kong expects huge increase in mainland visitors

HONG Kong – As China’s tourism continues to boom 50% increase in mainland tourists travelling to Hong Kong expected this year.

HONG Kong – As China’s tourism continues to boom 50% increase in mainland tourists travelling to Hong Kong expected this year.

Channel NewsAsia reports that online travel service Ctrip.com and Hong Kong retailer Bonjour, have joined forces to promote tourism on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

The two partners are launching a joint VIP card with which cardholders would get special deals while travelling in China, Macau and Hong Kong

Tang Lan, VP of Sales & Marketing at Ctrip.com said: “Now we are the number one travel agency for mainland China travellers going to Hong Kong. And the number in 2008 was about 90,000. And 2009, it reached 150,000.”

Ctrip.com expects to see a 50% jump this year in mainland customers travelling to Hong Kong.

Channel NewsAsia also says thet mainland visitors are a key driver of Hong Kong’s tourism industry. An estimated 17 million of them flock across the border each year.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-grown Bonjour has seen sales jump by 33% in the first half of the year.

And with a growing number of mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong, it is keeping positive on its sales outlook.

“Up to now, (sales) is about 35%. We expect the percentage will increase to about 50% in the next few years,” said Alan Chan, executive director of Bonjour.

In the first half of this year, more than 10 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong, an increase of 23% compared to a year ago.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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