Growth in visitor arrivals in Hong Kong is expected to be around 4.8 percent for the year of 2001, said the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Saturday.

The HKTB said this is a significant improvement on the situation on late September, when revised forecast of zero growth was made after the terrorist attacks in the United States.

Statistics showed total arrivals for the year have reached more than 12.4 million, a five percent increase on the first 11 months. It is likely that the full-year total will be close to 13.7 million.

Performance in November is especially encouraging as visitor arrivals reached more than 1 million, a 2.1 percent increase on the same month in 2000.

The number of the Chinese Mainland visitors had the highest growth of 33.4 percent in November, which offsets falls in other main markets.

The HKTB's Executive Director Clara Chong said the growth in the Chinese Mainland visitors during the second half of 2001 had exceeded all expectations.

"It is especially encouraging that these increases are being seen before most of the recently announced visa relaxation measures have come into effect," she said, "We can expect to see a further strong growth early next year when they do."

( People's Daily December 23, 2001)