Fireworks in celebration of the Spring Festival illuminate the sky over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on Feb 11, 2024. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong recorded nearly 8 million visitor arrivals during the first two months of 2024, a three-fold increase over the same period last year driven by the Chinese New Year holidays and festive mega events, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board.

The board said in a statement that the city saw a total of 7.83 million visitor arrivals from January to February, with average daily visitor arrivals reaching about 130,000.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board said that the provisional visitor arrivals in February reached 4m, or an increase of about 1.7 times year-on-year

It added that the provisional visitor arrivals in February reached 4 million, or an increase of about 1.7 times year-on-year.

Among the travelers last month, 80 percent were visitors from the Chinese mainland, accounting for 3.246 million arrivals, or nearly double the year-on-year figure, the board said.

It also said that non-mainland visitors increased 113.8 percent in February to 755,279. Among them, the number of short-haul visitors rose 155.8 percent to 424,240.  

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On the other hand, the number of long-haul visitors increase 151.5 percent to 190,177, the board added.