Figures released by Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) put business events visitors to the special administrative region of China at 700,000 for January to June 2024.
This is around 80 per cent of visitation for the same period in 2018.
HKTB says these figures make business events travellers the fastest recovering visitor group for Hong Kong.
Those staying overnight to attend business events spent an average of HK$8,000 (AU$1,573) during their time in the city, which is between 20 and 30 per cent higher than the average spend of the whole inbound visitor segment.
A financial powerhouse and a traditionally strong business events destination, Hong Kong struggled during the pandemic and was one of the last global destinations to reopen.
Now HKTB is reporting 60 major international business events secured for delivery between 2024 and 2026, including several events that have never been held in Hong Kong before.
These events cover innovation and technology, medical science and financial services – areas in which the city has always performed well – in addition to more emerging industry sectors for Hong Kong’s business events mix, including aviation, architecture and education.
Events set to be held in Hong Kong in the near future include blockchain event SmartCon 2024 in October and Consensus Hong Kong 2025, a cryptocurrency event that had more than 15,000 attendees at its 2024 iteration in Austin, Texas, although some of those were virtual.
The city will also host aviation events Super Terminal Expo 2024 in November and Routes World 2025 next September alongside the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 2025 Annual Meeting in June next year and the World Cancer Congress 2026. Also in 2026, Hong Kong will host the International Federation of Landscape Architects World Congress.
In the first six months of 2024, Hong Kong welcomed around 21 million visitors, with roughly 16 million travelling from Mainland China and five million coming from international markets. For context, Australia’s entire international visitor market for the year to March 2024 was 2.1 million.
