Tourists invisible to Hong Kong retailers

While more tourists have been crossing the border for the ongoing Golden Week, there has not been much gold in it for Hong Kong retailers.

Visitor numbers jumped more than 14.1 per cent on Saturday, the start of the holiday, according to the Hong Kong Immigration Department (IMMD).

This has mainly been attributed to visitors from the neighbouring Guangdong province, with cheaper hotel rooms and convenient travel making Hong Kong an accessible choice, says the South China Morning Post.

Statistics show that more than 200,000 visitors arrived on the first day of the national holiday, a jump from last year’s 177,000. But despite the rise, the visitors have been spending less – hardly good news for Hong Kong retailers, who have already been feeling the pinch. With Hong Kong no longer riding the wave as the first port of call for Chinese tourists, retailers were warned last month that they need to discount or die.

For the new influx of visitors, their travel and buying patterns differ from previous mainland tourists as they are familiar with Hong Kong and tend to visit relatives, go sightseeing and buy from stores in residential areas. Family visitors and Shenzhen residents spiked more than 40 per cent on the first day of the holiday, while those crossing the border on the “L visa” dropped 5 per cent.

Hong Kong retailers are already branding this the worst-ever Golden Week, with many reporting lower numbers of mainland tourists, fewer tour buses and less spending.

However, Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung says the divergence between tourist numbers and luxury sales is a “good sign”.

“The city’s tourism sector is normalising,” he says, with high-quality individual tourists compensating for the loss in mainland tour groups, which have long been criticised for forcing visitors to buy high-priced products at designated shops.