Art Basel Hong Kong, said to be the biggest event since the epidemic, saw visitor numbers fall instead of rise this year. (Organiser’s photo)
Art Basel, Hong Kong’s annual art world event which ended last weekend (30th), recorded 75,000 visitors, a sharp drop of 12.8% from last year’s 86,000 visitors. Compared to the record number of 88,000 visitors in 2019, it fell by 14.8%. This year’s Art Basel is said to be the biggest since 2019, with more exhibitors than last year and 2019, but the number of visitors did not increase but decreased.
Looking at the attendance records of Art Basel Hong Kong in recent years, except for 2020-22 when the pneumonia epidemic was raging, there were 80,000 visitors in 2018, 88,000 visitors in 2019, 86,000 visitors in 2023, and only 75,000 visitors this year. This year’s exhibition lasted for three days, between March 28 and 30, two of which overlapped with the Easter public holidays. It is not known whether the overseas holidays of the Hong Kong people had an effect on it.
According to a press release from Art Basel organizers, this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong is the largest since 2019, with as many as 242 exhibitors. In recent years, press releases have quoted some demonstrators sharing their sentiments, but this year there was no such quote.
This annual arts event is a tourism project promoted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, and is also the highlight of this year’s Art March. The authorities estimate that around 46 million tourists will visit Hong Kong this year, an increase of 35% compared to last year.
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