Hong Kong welcomed more than 4 million visitors in May, marking a 20 per cent year-on-year increase, with authorities attributing the surge to the Labour Day “golden week” holiday.

According to provisional figures released by the Tourism Board on Monday, more than 3.1 million of the total visitors in May were from mainland China, representing a 19 per cent rise from last year.

The number of non-mainland tourists also increased significantly, by 24 per cent from last May, reaching 955,345. Of these, 56.2 per cent were short-haul visitors.

The Tourism Board said that last month’s increase was due to the Labour Day holiday, which ran from May 1 to 5 on the mainland, alongside a range of citywide activities including large-scale concerts, meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition events.

Overall, more than 20 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong between January and May, a 12 per cent year-on-year increase.

While visitors from the mainland made up the majority of Hong Kong’s tourist population and showed a 10 per cent growth from January to May, other visitors showed a higher growth of 18 per cent.