Ngong Ping cable car numbers fell again last year, apparently due to the continuing decline in mainland visitors.

In annual figures published yesterday Ngong Ping 360, a division of MTR Corp, said the average daily number of passengers declined 3.2% last year to 5,254.

With the cable car out of operation for maintenance for five months, the total number of visitors, 1.04 million, was well down on the 2016 level of 1.71 million.

Ngong Ping 360 visitor numbers peaked at 1.83 million in 2014 and have fallen in two of the three years since.

In that time the proportion of non-Chinese tourists has increased from 51% to 57%, while the China share has declined from 31% to 27%.

Ngong Ping 360 says its reaping the of its greater focus on southeast Asian nations, the number of Philippines and Indonesian guests up 56% and 53% respectively.

The total number of visitors to Hong Kong last year declined 4.5% to 56.65 million, with the mainland total down 6.7%.

To boost growth, Ngong Ping 360 plans to launch a “virtual reality and multi-media sensory attraction” series next month, called VR360.

It has announced that it will increase the price of its annual pass by 22% from February 16.