Hong Kong Tourism Board announced Monday that tourist arrivals in Hong Kong stood at around 1.8 million in May, up 7.5 percent on the same month last year.

Most of Hong Kong's key markets registered month-on-month growth. Markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East performed the best with tourist arrivals went up 30 percent to 130,000.

Arrivals from the America rose 15.2 percent and from North Asia up 11.6 percent, while those from Taiwan registered a rise of 8.5 percent.

The total number of arrivals from January to May rose 10.4 percent to about 9.2 million.

Tourism Board Executive Director Clara Chong said: "The fact we achieved double-digit growth in the vast majority of our key markets not only underlines Hong Kong's broad international appeal as a destination, but also reflects the effectiveness of our ongoing marketing and promotional activities across all regions."

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2005)