More Indonesians visit HK

JAKARTA (JP): The number of Indonesians visiting Hong Kong jumped 96.7 percent to 109,574 people in the first seven months of this year, according to the Hong Kong Tourist Association.

The association's director for South and Southeast Asia, David Leung, said here on Friday the number of Indonesian visitors to Hong Kong plunged 40 percent to 104,000 last year from 174,000 in 1997.

He said the increase in the number of Indonesian visitors from January to July was the highest recorded increase among Southeast Asian countries.

However, in terms of total number of visitors, Indonesia ranked fourth behind Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, he said.

Total visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached about six million people as of July, an increase of 11.1 percent from the same period last year, he said.

Leung was upbeat the number of visitors to Hong Kong would further increase this year with the launch of a special tourist promotion campaign.

He said the Discover Hong Kong campaign offered discounts of up to 70 percent at over 800 shopping outlets in the territory. (01)