TORONTO — At its ‘Year of the Rooster Appreciation Reception’ in Toronto last night, the Hong Kong Tourism Board announced a 3% increase in tourist arrivals from Canada in 2016 compared to the previous year.

The destination welcomed 369,363 Canadians last year. Overnight visitors had an overall 2.9% increase while same-day visits increased by 3.3%. Hong Kong welcomed approximately 56.655 million tourists in 2016, a decrease of 4.5% from 2015, even though international tourism is up.

The overall number of mainland same-day tourists decreased in 2016 by 6.7%, most likely due to the implementation of the ‘one week per visit policy’. There was an increase of 3.1% from international visitors from both short- and long-haul markets. International overnight arrivals also increased by 5.7% with short-haul markets increasing by 8.4%.

Hong Kong has a released a new global tourism campaign, ‘Best of All, It’s in Hong Kong’ featuring a series of commercials starring famous locals with different topics highlighting food and gourmet dining, fashion and entertainment, family adventures and the great outdoors. New tours and events will be featured for each theme.

The destination expects to open 29 new hotels by the end of 2017, increasing the current number of over 250 hotels available by 74,000 rooms.

“We want visitors to see, feel and have a taste of the best Hong Kong can offer through the eyes of locals through this campaign,” said Michael Lim, Hong Kong Tourism Board Director for Canada, Central & South America. “This new brand campaign will take Hong Kong to new heights as a destination by connecting and inspiring people to travel here and experience the best and most authentic Hong Kong moments.”

Travel to Hong Kong is getting easier with an average of 19 direct flights in service. New flights and routes to Hong Kong and other Asian destinations are increasing with airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines, Air Canada, China Southern, China Eastern and Hainan Airlines.

William Wang, Business Development Manager for Cathay Pacific, told Travelweek that there will be three new flights direct from Vancouver to Hong Kong, starting March 28. Between June 24 and Sept. 4, four double-daily flights from Toronto will be in service.

Hong Kong is also encouraging multi-destination travel with their partners in China, Thailand, and its newest partner Taiwan.