ENG-2015 — Page 359

Chapter 18

Travel and Tourism

The tourism sector experienced

a challenging year in 2015, with total visitor arrivals declining after a decade of rapid growth. In response to this, the Hong Kong Tourism Board received more than $90 million of additional government funding to strengthen the promotion of the city as a premier destination.

Hong Kong welcomed 59.3 million visitors in 2015, slightly below the 60.8 million the year before. The slowdown as compared with previous years was mainly due to the currency depreciations of neighbouring destinations and their relaxation of visa policies for Mainland visitors, which enhanced their tourism appeal. The Mainland continued to be Hong Kong's largest source of visitors, representing around 77 per cent of total visitor arrivals.

Major Tourism Developments

While work on boosting family and business travels continued, the city made special efforts to promote MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions), cruise tourism, mega events and green tourism.

MICE

Hong Kong is a premier MICE destination, offering world-class convention and exhibition facilities and a wide range of tourist attractions. It has a dedicated office, the Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong, under the Tourism Board to promote MICE tourism. The city hosts some of the world's largest trade fairs, such as the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair, Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair, and Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair.

In 2015, the city received 1.72 million overnight MICE visitors, a decline of 5.2 per cent over 2014. It was once again selected as the 'Best Business City in the World' by a leading MICE journal.

Major conventions and exhibitions held during the year included Watches & Wonders Asia Haute Horlogerie 2015, Art Basel, Worlddidac Asia Hong Kong 2015, HxGN Live Asia 2015, UFI Open Seminar in Asia 2015, 6th World Glaucoma Congress 2015, Spine Summit Asia Pacific - Hong Kong 2015, Rise Conference 2015, Asian Attractions Expo 2015 and IFX Expo Asia 2015. Major events coming up in the next two years include IFX Expo Asia 2016, the 16th World

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