Hong Kong tourism, retail continue slump with less mainlander visits

Even Christmas season failed to meet expectations, with the number of mainland travelers being merely 3.72 million in December, down 15.5 percent, the biggest monthly drop in 2015.

The total number of visitors to Hong Kong had been on the decline for seven consecutive months since June, the HKTB said.

On the other hand, the retail sector also had a difficult time. According to the latest data from Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department, retail sales totaled 475.2 billion Hong Kong dollars in 2015, down 3.7 percent from 2014, the biggest drop since 2002.

Last December’s retail sales were estimated at 43.7 billion Hong Kong dollars, down 8.5 percent year-on-year, while the total volume of retail in the same month fell 6.1 percent.

Sales revenues of jewelry, watches and luxury gifts registered the biggest fall, down 17 percent in December year-on-year and 15.6 percent last year from 2014. In addition, clothes, commodities at department stores, medicine and cosmetics all saw a fall in revenue.

The retail sector has been falling since March 2015, and saw revenue drops for ten months in a row last year. Retail sales in August totaled 37.9 billion Hong Kong dollars, down 5.4 percent year-on-year, the biggest fall in 2015.

On February 15, Hong Kong Disneyland said it suffered a net profit loss of 148 million Hong Kong dollars, the first of its kind since 2012.

Besides, Ocean Park,recently reported a double-digit fall in the number of mainland visitors during the Spring Festival holidays, while total admissions to the park fell 14 percent in 2015. Tom Mehrmann, the park’s chief executive, said the number of mainland visitors now has dropped to a mere 40 percent of the total admissions from over 50 percent in July 2015, and he expected a further drop in numbers during the months to come.