The Evolution of Chinese Mainland Visitors to Hong Kong from International Visitors to Domestic Visitors

Politically, Hong Kong is part of the People's Republic of China. However, Mainland Chinese vacation visitors coming to Hong Kong are restricted by immigration regulations. The introduction of the Individual Visitor Scheme (IVS) and multiple visa policies has significantly increased the number of leisure visitors to Hong Kong from China due to increased access. This increase in visitors has resulted in noticeable social impacts including increased conflicts between Mainland Chinese visitors and local residents in Hong Kong. This paper examines Mainland Chinese leisure visitors' behavior in Hong Kong for a period lasting from the UK handover of Hong Kong back to China in 1997 to 2014. With the exponential growth in leisure tourism over the course of the past 18 years, mainly driven by the IVS, Mainland Chinese visitors' travel profiles and activities more closely represent domestic tourism than international tourism in terms of trip and visitor profile, activities taken, type of goods purchased and accommodation behavior.