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Tourists take Hong Kong off their holiday list
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When Song Xiaomeng, a 25-year-old Shanghai teacher, was discussing travel plans for the upcoming National Day holiday with friends, they considered such destinations as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Australia ... but not Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong seems less appealing to us partly due to the lingering anti-mainland sentiment and its lack of new tourist attractions,” Song said.
Hong Kong, formerly one of the most popular destinations for people from the Chinese mainland, has seen tourist numbers drop recently.
The number of visitors from the mainland fell almost 10 percent in July, compared to the growth of 11.2 percent a year earlier, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said.
Ocean Park, one of the most popular attractions in Hong Kong, saw a 15-percent drop in visitor numbers during the summer.
In contrast, the Japan National Tourism Organization said 576,900 people from the Chinese mainland had visited in July, more than double the number in the same month last year.
Retail sales in Hong Kong were also hit, falling 2.8 percent in July, the fifth straight month of decline, according to figures from the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.
“Hong Kong’s reputation as a shopping paradise has been put to the test,” said Caroline Mak Sui-king, chairwoman of the Retail Management Association.
Jewelry shops and watch stores in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui have put up signs offering discounts of up to 50 percent.
Luxury brands are also struggling. Burberry reported a double-digit drop in sales in Hong Kong over the past few months. Leather goods maker Coach shut one of its three flagship locations in Hong Kong last month to cut costs as business slowed.
Sky-high rents tumbled accordingly. The rents of shops in bustling shopping districts fell 10.5 percent year on year during the first half of 2015, according to a report from Colliers International. The commercial real estate services organization forecast that the full-year decline would reach 15 percent.
Hotel room occupancy was 80 percent during the summer, its lowest in months.
To lure tourists back, industry insiders called for new scenic spots and a welcoming social atmosphere. Yiu Si-wing, director of China Travel Service and a member of the city’s Legislative Council, said protests at shoppers from the mainland would do nothing but spoil the hospitable image of Hong Kong.
Such protests were still having an impact on tourists’ desire to travel to Hong Kong, Travel Industry Council chief executive Joseph Tung Yao-chung said. He urged Hong Kong people to cease their anti-visitor behavior and said he hoped the government could create more attractions to draw visitors.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board is planning a number of events to win tourists back, including a “Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival” in late October and a “Hong Kong Winter Fest” in December.
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