Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's tourism industry is gearing up for a disappointing Year of the Ox with visitor numbers dropping by about 500,000, officials said Thursday.

Around 29 million people are expected to visit Hong Kong in 2009, the Chinese Year of the Ox, according to estimates by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

This would be a drop of 1.6 per cent from the 2008 figure of 29.5 million. Longhaul travellers will account for a large proportion of the fall, offsetting a predicted 4-per-cent rise in the number of visitors from mainland China.

The forecast follows slightly disappointing results in 2008, which began well with a record rate of visitors to Hong Kong before slowing as the economic crisis worsened.

By the end of 2008, the city of 6.9 million had welcomed a record 29.5 million visitors in 2008, but the number fell short of its target of 30 million for the year.

A report Thursday in the South China Morning Post said that the downbeat predictions for 2009 had resulted in the Tourism Board trimming its proposed marketing budget by 4.1 million Hong Kong dollars to 319.6 million dollars (by 526,000 US dollars to 40.9 million US dollars) for the new year.

The report said the board was planning to concentrate more efforts on promoting Hong Kong on the Chinese mainland and in emerging markets such as Russia and the Middle East.

Hong Kong's visitor arrivals have rocketed since the easing of cross-border travel restrictions by China in 2003, allowing millions more Chinese people to visit the former British colony.

Last year, they accounted for more than half of all visitors, or 16.87 million people. The number is expected to increase this year to 17.55 million people.

The Hong Kong statistics include same-day visitors from southern China and also those who clear immigration but do not stay overnight, meaning millions who transit the city between Taiwan and China are included in the total. (dpa)