The amount of people traveling to Hong Kong on business trips rose by a staggering 22% in 2010, in part due to the less volatile economic conditions and the inexpensive Hong Kong dollar, tourism officials announced today.

During the year, 1.4m incoming travelers on business trips arrived in Hong Kong in 2010, equating to over 22% more than the previous year. Analysts state that 41.8% of these travelers came in from mainland China, which represents a rise of 35% on 2009’s figures.

Of the remaining people traveling for business purposes, 431,462 came from wider Asia and 395,903 from long-haul markets, such as the Europe and the US.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board put this growth down to 'relatively stable global economic conditions' and the greater appeal of the city brought on by the appreciation of many global currencies against the Hong Kong dollar, which is anchored to the US dollar.

Chairman James Tien stated that his board expected arrivals for business trips – comprising of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions - to grow by a further 12% in 2011 to 1.6 million.

Tien added 315 conventions and exhibitions had already confirmed dates in Hong Kong over this year and 2012 and his board had allocated 47.7 million Hong Kong dollars (6.2 million US dollars) this year to promote such events.The total number of visitors to Hong Kong, including tourists, also grew by 22 per cent to 36 million in 2010.

Of these, 22.6 million were visitors from mainland China, whose numbers have soared since the easing of travel restrictions that followed the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997.

Reported by Claire Blackthorne.

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