Hong Kong’s arts hub welcomed more than 15 million visitors last year, marking a 19 per cent increase from the previous year’s number, with local events and international collaborations planned to further boost traffic.
The management of the West Kowloon Cultural District also announced on Thursday that the hub had already recorded 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 an estimated 12.6 million visitors visited the cultural district in 2023, which was likely lower than the actual number, according to a representative.
IT added the methodology for 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 drew 3.8 million visitors to various offerings such as the “Picasso for Asia: A Conversation” exhibition, the announcement event for the Hong Kong China Rugby Sevens Team and the WestK FunFest.
