Hong Kong logged 44.5 million visitors in 2024, registering a 31 percent year-on-year increase with around 298 million passengers passing through its control points.

According to Immigration Department data issued Monday, the control point passenger traffic was 41 percent over 2023 numbers and signaled a return to the 300-million level of 2019.

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Mainland visitor arrivals comprised around 34.04 million of the total 2024 arrivals of 44.5 million, representing an increase of about 27 per cent when compared with that of 2023. Non-mainland visitor arrivals stood at 10.46 million  - an increase of about 44 per cent over 2023.

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In 2024, around 9.86 million visitors traveled through the airport control point, while around 32.81 million visitors and around 1.84 million visitors passed through land control points and sea control points, respectively.

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Separately, starting July 10, the department received around 87,000 applications in relation to Notice of Application for Access to Information pertaining to Mainland Travel Permits for eligible permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao. According to Immigration Department data, 99 percent of the applications had been processed.  

This apart, according to government data, in 2024, more than 900,000 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports were issued.