FITs are driving Hong Kong’s outbound tourism sector
Organisers for the upcoming ITE Hong Kong noted the post-pandemic recovery of the sector
Organisers for the upcoming ITE Hong Kong 2025 noted how the dominance of free independent travellers (FITs) has helped push the post-pandemic recovery of the autonomous region’s outbound travel sector.
They noted that outbound tourism made a full recovery as of end-2024, as locals made 104 million departures throughout the year.
Consequently, outbound travel spending among locals was up 84 percent as of end-2023.
Outbound package tours, however, have been slow to recover based on figures from the past year.
As of Q1-2024, outbound package tours remain under 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
That said, FITs and private group travel remain the primary contributors to the ongoing recovery of Hong Kong’s tourism sector.
Key findings
According to the 2024 survey conducted by ITE based on 3,740 replies gleaned at the previous event, 90 percent of attendees preferred to travel as FITs or in small private groups.
At the same time, frequent travellers say they are more than willing to spend for and during their trips, signifying great potential for revenue.
It should be noted that 74 percent of trade visitors from agencies and tour operators came from the Greater Bay Area which encompasses Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.
An additional 16 percent came from other parts of the Greater Asian Region, while ten percent came from other provinces in the Chinese Mainland.
Likewise, Hong Kong teeters between third and fourth place as Asia’s largest source market, thanks to outbound travellers spending around US$22.7 billion as of end-2023.
Coming up in June
Asia’s leading international travel fair, ITE Hong Kong 2025 returns from 12th to 15th June at Halls 1A to 1E of Hong Kong Convention Exhibition Centre.
The event will also feature the 39th ITE (Leisure) and 20th ITE MICE in its fifth live iteration since the pandemic.
The event is expected to draw in up to 515 trade exhibitors on top of more than 7,000 buyers and travel trade professionals, serving as a platform to encourage more would-be FITs to experience the pleasure of regional and global travel.
