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Hong Kong is the gateway to southern China and has long been renowned as a shoppers paradise. Hong Kong manages to squeeze 6.9 million people within its borders. The city state is located in Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China.
The climate varies with the seasons from tropical in the monsoon season to cool and humid in winter. The weather is hot and rainy from spring through summer, warm and sunny in autumn. Hong Kong is hilly to mountainous with steep slopes and lowlands in the north.
Hong Kong has a huge variety of Hotel accommodation, ranging from cheap backpacker rooms to some of the best 5 star hotels in the world. China and Macau are easily accessible by ferry, overland or by air.
Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997.
In this agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.
Hong Kong has a free market economy, highly dependent on international trade. Natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be imported. Gross imports and exports (i.e., including reexports to and from third countries) each exceed GDP in dollar value.
Even before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration on 1 July 1997, it had extensive trade and investment ties with China. Hong Kong has been further integrating its economy with China because China's growing openness to the world economy has made manufacturing in China much more cost effective.
Hong Kong's re-export business to and from China is a major driver of growth. Per capita GDP is comparable to that of the four big economies of Western Europe. GDP growth averaged a strong 5% from 1989 to 1997, but Hong Kong suffered two recessions in the past six years because of the Asian financial crisis in 1998 and the global downturn in 2001 and 2002.
Although the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak also battered Hong Kong's economy, a boom in tourism from the mainland because of China's easing of travel restrictions, a return of consumer confidence, and a solid rise in exports resulted in the resumption of strong growth in late 2003 and in 2004.
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HOTEL RESERVATIONS 
