Tourist arrivals in Hong Kong in October hit a new monthly record of 2.14 million, up 6.4 percent over the same month last year, according to a government press release on Wednesday.

It also raised cumulative arrivals for the first 10 months of the year to 19 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.5 percent.

The Tourism Board said the rise was largely driven by robust performance in several long-haul markets. Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific registered 21.9 percent growth, which boosted monthly arrivals from the region to 58,358.

Europe, Africa and the Middle East grew 17.7 percent to 205,177 while South and Southeast Asia saw year-on-year growth of 12.9 percent with 219,141 arrivals.

About 62.6 percent of all visitors stayed in the city for at least one night, compared with 60 percent last year.

Occupancy across all categories of hotels and tourist guest houses in October was 88 percent, a one percentage-point drop against last year that partially reflects the 6.2 percent rise in Hong Kong's room supply.

Tourism Board's Executive Director Clara Chong said although the outlook for tourism continues to be positive, the board is closely monitoring a number of factors, such as avian flu and rising fuel costs -- that might affect the board's projections.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2005)