The number of people visiting Hong Kong rose 5.1 percent to a record last year, as more visitors from the Chinese mainland countered a drop in tourists from the United States, according to the city's tourism authority.

The Hong Kong Tourist Board said 13.7 million people visited the city last year, about twice its population of about 6.8 million. In December, 1.3 million people visited the city, three months after terrorists hijacked and crashed four commercial jetliners in the U.S.

The number of people visiting from the U.S. fell 10.3 percent in December from a year ago, while mainland visitors during the month increased 29.1 percent, Bloomberg News reported.

Tourists from the mainland accounted for 32.4 percent of all arrivals in Hong Kong last year, up from 29 percent in 2000, while visitors from the U.S. made up 6.8 percent of the total, down from 7.4 percent.

Tourist board Executive Director Clara Chong said she expected the rise in visitors to continue.

Spending by tourists is key to lifting Hong Kong's slowing economy. The city's unemployment rate rose to a two-year high in December as stalled economic growth forced companies from HSBC Holdings Plc to Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. to fire workers. Retail sales in the city fell in the five months to November.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., the city's dominant long-haul airline, filled 75.1 percent of available seats with paying passengers in December, 1.9 percentage points more than the same month last year, the carrier said earlier.

( China Daily January 29, 2002)