Visitor numbers reach 84 percent of pre-Covid levels
The Hong Kong Tourism Board said on Wednesday that it recorded more than four million visitor arrivals last month, reaching 84 percent of pre-pandemic levels.  Tourist numbers in August rose 14 percent from July, and 84 percent of the visitors were from the mainland.  The board said the SAR's tourism industry is recovering steadily and gradually, with over 20 million visitor arrivals recorded in the first eight months of this year. "However, factors such as currency exchange rates, airline capacity and the global economic outlook will continue to affect the actual pace of the recovery," it wrote in a statement. A senior associate dean of the HKUST Business School said while he’s positive that the tourism sector will continue to recover, the city can do even more to attract visitors, including those who are not from the mainland.   "The air transport network would have to beef up its stage of recovery. We are still not running a full flight service in Hong Kong right now," Professor Hui Kai-lung told RTHK. "In terms of tourists' sentiment, I think it is important for people from outside of Hong Kong to understand the fact that everything is resuming back to normal... Hong Kong is as free as previously before the pandemic so that tourists would not have any hesitation or worries about moving around." The board said it will organise a series of events in the latter half of the year, including countdown celebrations, to create a "city-wide festive ambience".