Move over, Singapore: the classic stopover making a massive Aussie comeback

A relentless marketing campaign as the 'stopover of choice' and a wave of new flight routes is successfully dragging Australian travellers back to a popular Asian hotspot.

Hong Kong is again in the spotlight as Australian visitors soared by 27 per cent in 2025.

The latest Hong Kong Tourism Board visitor statistics show 469,000 Australian arrivals in 2025 compared to 342,370 in 2024.

December alone had 67,789 arrivals - the second-highest monthly total for Australians in 12 years.

Part of the increase has been attributed to Hong Kong Airlines launching direct flights from Melbourne and Sydney to Hong Kong, and Cathay Pacific resuming direct flights from Adelaide.

However this still lags behind 2019 levels when 505,523 Australian visitors went to Hong Kong.

Australians began to stay away from Hong Kong in 2019, when protestors staged sit-ins at the airport and clashed with riot police.

Demonstrations against Beijing continued into 2020, then the pandemic struck and Hong Kong closed to the world.

At the heart of this resurgence is the Kai Tak Sports Park precinct, which has emerged as a global magnet since its March 2025 opening.

In its first nine months alone, the precinct attracted over seven million visits, anchored by a record-smashing Hong Kong Sevens tournament and global musical acts like Coldplay and Jay Chou.

Hong Kong Tourism Board director for Australia Karen Macmillan said the annual Wine and Dine Festival in October also remains a major draw for the Australian market.

Ms Macmillan said a key pillar of their 2026 marketing strategy was solidifying "Hong Kong as the stopover city of choice", leveraging world-class events, to turn "quick transits into high-value stays".

Despite this, Singapore remains the dominant choice for Australians for stopovers with over a million visitors.

However, Singapore's growth from all international passengers has slowed to 2.3 per cent according to Singapore Tourism Board, suggesting it has reached its limit.

Meanwhile Dubai and Doha are no longer just 'airport hubs' and emerging as holiday destinations in their own right.

Dubai Economy and Tourism (DET) data showed a record 296, 000 Australians travelled to Dubai in 2024, six per cent higher than the previous year.