Most mainland travelers still plan to travel to Hong Kong in 2015

Despite recent events and rising costs, 60 percent of surveyed mainland travelers still plan to travel to Hong Kong in 2015," a report said.

An independent brokerage and investment group CLSA Limited headquartered in Hong Kong released its new findings on Jan. 20, showing mainland tourism growth is on track to reach 200 million outbound travelers by 2020.

A survey in December 2014 of more than 400 outbound travelers found mainland holiday makers are selecting destinations based on more than shopping opportunities alone, with cost, safety, culture, vacation length and visa availability the top five factors influencing destination choice.

According to the report, safety is now of significant concern. "Survey participants took an average 2.8 trips per year in 2014 compared to 1.8 trips in 2013 with the top five most visited destinations being (China's) Hong Kong, Thailand, (China's) Macau, South Korea and Japan."

In the report, CLSA forecasts mainland's outbound visitation with a five-point model that rates destinations in terms of hotel offerings, dining options, tourist attractions, shopping options and accessibility (visas and flights).

"Using this model we find that Japan, France and (South) Korea will be the overall top three destinations for mainland tourists in years to come," said the report.

However, CLSA said Hong Kong is losing its status and they have cut their forecasts for tourism arrivals in 2020 due to internal and external factors which include infrastructure bottlenecks, the unwelcoming attitude of locals, increasing sophistication of travelers and increased global competition for tourists. Endi