Chinese New Year holiday visits to Hong Kong top 1.16 mln

HONG KONG, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong had recorded over 1.16 million visitor arrivals from Feb. 15 to Feb. 20 as many people from the Chinese mainland traveled to the city during the Spring Festival holiday, local data showed on Saturday.

Among the total, visits from the mainland topped 980,000, data from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government showed. Previous estimates put total mainland tourist arrivals during the nine-day holiday at 1.43 million.

The long holiday enabled in-depth tours of Hong Kong's nooks and crannies, with many tourists choosing to stay overnight on Lamma Island and other escapes rather than in downtown areas. For families with high schoolers, visits to Hong Kong's world-class universities are a fixture on itineraries.

Following a gold price surge, gold jewelers in Hong Kong recorded hefty sales brought by mainland tourists during the holiday. Many customers bought accessories and ornaments with horse motifs to celebrate the Year of the Horse.■