(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong insurance sales to mainland Chinese visitors jumped nearly 28 times in the first quarter, as the resumption of quarantine-free travel released pent-up demand, according to the city’s Insurance Authority. 

Sales recovered to HK$9.6 billion ($1.2 billion), the regulator said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. That’s about 75% of the level recorded in the same three months in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic grounded most travelers.

The numbers corroborated statements from the likes of AIA Group Ltd. and Prudential Plc, which earlier reported upbeat results from their Hong Kong units, bolstered in part by the return of Chinese visitors.

Mainland Chinese visitors accounted for 20.5% of individual insurance sales in the three months, versus 26.4% in the same period in 2019, the authority said. 

About 97% of policies sold to mainland visitors involved regular premium payments. About 56% were whole life policies, 33% provided critical illness coverage and 5% were medical insurance.

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