Hong Kong arts hub records 19% visitor surge, welcoming 15 million in 2024
Hong Kong's premier arts hub welcomed over 15 million visitors last year, marking a 19 per cent increase from the previous year's estimate, with local events and international collaborations planned to further boost visitor numbers.
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The West Kowloon Cultural District also announced on Thursday that it had already seen at least 400,000 visitors since the beginning of April, thanks to activities during long weekends such as Easter and mainland China's 'golden week' holiday in early May
The series of events at the arts hub is part of an initiative to attract more visitors and revenue as it continues to find ways to ease its financial strain and reduce its operating deficit, with measures including the sale of 1,995 residential flats on site.
'Summing up 2024, over 1,300 events took place at the cultural district including exhibitions and performances, among which 500 were private events from venue rentals, attracting over 15 million visitors,' said Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, CEO of the arts hub.
The managing authority commissioned an impact study and found a conservative estimate of 12.6 million visitors had visited the cultural district in 2023 which was likely lower than the actual number, according to a spokesperson.
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They added that the methodology of counting visitor numbers had changed in the past year to rely more heavily on a new system with sensors across the district put in place for 'more accurate' figures.
In March and April alone this year, the cultural district saw 3.8 million visitors to its various offerings such as the 'Picasso for Asia: A Conversation' exhibition, the announcement of the Hong Kong China Rugby Sevens Team, and the WestK FunFest.
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