Hong Kong - Hong Kong's tourism industry appeared to be surviving the economic downturn as official figures released Wednesday revealed the number of visitors in March was up 1.7 per cent compared with the same month last year.

Figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board showed 2.4 million people visited the former British colony in March, almost 41,000 more than in March 2008.

The figure brings the cumulative total for the first quarter to 7.4 million, 1.8 per cent more than the same period last year.

However, more than half - or 58 per cent - of all visitors came from mainland China, an increase of 13.3 per cent compared with last March.

By way of a contrast, visitors from all long-haul regions continued to decline as the economic downturn caused many to stay at home.

Visitors from the United States and Canada dropped more than 16 per cent while those from Europe, Africa and the Middle East fell by 19.2 per cent. Numbers from North Asia fell by 15.9 per cent.

Tourism board Chairman James Tien said despite the positive start to the year, driven by the growth in the mainland Chinese market, the outlook remained volatile, given the financial crisis and the swine-flu outbreak.

Hong Kong on Friday reported East Asia's first swine-flu infection, a visitor from Mexico who was placed under quarantine as were more than 300 people at the hotel where he stayed.

Hong Kong was expecting a disappointing 2009 for tourism with around 29 million people expected to visit, a drop of 1.6 per cent from 2008.

Long-haul travellers were expected to account for a large proportion of the fall, but their numbers were predicted to be offset by a 4-per-cent expected rise in the number of visitors from mainland China.

To combat the fall in long-haul markets, the board was now targeting short-haul and emerging markets and recently signed a mutual agreement with Russia to allow visa-free access for visitors.

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 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)