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More mainland tourists will be packing their bags to visit the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions. It' s now possible for tourists from another nine Chinese cities visit the islands independently. The Hong Kong Tourism Board says the new rules will add momentum to their market.

The extension will take effect on July 1. Now, residents from Fuzhou city, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Taizhou cities will be allowed to visit without joining a tour group.

At present, tourists from 16 mainland cities, including Beijing and Shanghai have already been enjoying this convenience. But in other Chinese cities, people seeking to travel to Hong Kong, have to join a tourist group, instead of applying for visas by themselves.

Chinese visitors have been pushing up retail sales on the island, every month since China began easing travel rules back in July. As a result, Hong Kong's economy rebounded from its worst-ever contraction during the SARS outbreak.

Visitors from the mainland spend on average 723 US dollars per visit. That's more than visitors from both the US and Japan. Chinese visitors spend three-fifths of their travel budget on shopping, usually on jewelry, cosmetics and clothing.

Secretary of Economic Development and Labor Bureau Stephen said, "Starting from last July, since the launch of the individual travel scheme, up until now, there has been over 1,600,000 visitors from the mainland to Hong Kong for vacation. That's almost 13 million US dollars, that's assuming each person spends 723 US dollars per visit."

And since Hong Kong retailers have begun accepting RMB denominated debit cards and credit cards, purchases by mainland visitors are getting even bigger. Hong Kong retail sales in February rose 13.2 percent, the largest jump in four years.