Official data shows tourism revenues on the mainland during the Lunar New Year holidays surpassed 2019 levels, up by 47.3 percent compared to the same period last year. It could partly be due to a longer-than-usual break. This year's holiday lasted for eight days, one day more than the Lunar New year break last year. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the government says visitor arrivals over the break returned to 2018 levels. But as Violet Wong reports, there are still calls for officials to do more to attract travellers:

An economist says the rebound in tourist arrivals will not have a huge impact to Hong Kong's economy. Kevin Tsui, chief economist at consultant Orientis, said tourism spending was being affected by a strong US dollar, which made the city an expensive place, coupled with the fact that China's economy was not doing so well. He told Samantha Butler it would take some time for the tourism sector to fully recover from the pandemic:

The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury says Hong Kong still has an edge as a financial hub despite the weak performance of its stock market. Christopher Hui also says the city’s post-Covid economic recovery is slower than expected and the government will roll out more measures to boost the city's competitiveness. Chloe Feng reports:

Financial Secretary Paul Chan says Hong Kong has the potential to become an international hub for green technology and finance, which he described as key drivers of the economy. Violet Wong reports:

Development Secretary Bernadette Linn says the government is helping the construction industry to hire professionals from outside of Hong Kong. As Hailey Yip reports, a staff shortfall in the sector is expected to worsen:

China has marked another chapter in its aviation industry. Its C919 passenger jet has made its first trip outside China, staging a fly-by at the Singapore Airshow. Chloe Feng reports:

An aviation analyst says the debut of China's C919 in Singapore marks a major milestone for the Commercial Aircraft Corporation Of China (COMAC). Brendan Sobie of Sobie Aviation, a consulting firm based in the Lion City, says the spolight on COMAC is intense given that the dominant two planemakers, Airbus and Boeing, are struggling to meet demand for new planes as well as Boeing being hit by a string of crises. But he told Janice Wong that COMAC was not yet a competitive alternative:

Ukraine was a key topic of discussion at the Munich Security Conference at the weekend. Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China has been working tirelessly to promote Ukraine peace talks and called for negotiations as early as possible. He also had a meeting with the Canadian foreign minister, during which he said the two countries were "not rivals, let alone enemies". Hailey Yip reports:

Former US president Donald Trump has been roasted for launching gold high-top trainers at a sneaker convention in Philadelphia. Dubbed the "Never Surrender" sneakers at US$399 each, the 1,000 initial pairs have already been sold out. It came a day after a New York judge ordered Trump to pay almost US$370 million in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders. RTHK's Washington correspondent, Barry Wood, told Samantha Butler that Trump's court losses will only help to boost his popularity and his coffers:

The Year of the Dragon is considered to be an especially auspicious year and so-called ‘Dragon babies’ born under this zodiac sign are often ascribed with positive qualities such as being especially intelligent, lucky and successful. Whether that is true is open to debate, but there is no question that here in Hong Kong, Dragon years have typically seen a surge in births. But what about this year - with the fertility rate at a record low, coupled with an uncertain economy? Will we still see a baby boom here and on the mainland? Chloe Feng has been trying to find out: