HONG KONG - On Saturday evening in Tsim Sha Tsui, a harbourfront district popular with tourists for its mix of luxury boutiques and more affordable offerings, nearly one in three shops on main thoroughfare Nathan Road was shuttered. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The city has had a rough few years. It used to welcome over 70 million visitors annually before Covid-19; over 90 per cent of its gross domestic product is dependent on the services sector.
Heavily dependent on the mainland Chinese market, which made up over 70 per cent of the city’s tourist traffic pre-pandemic, many high street shops have gone out of business, while landlords from Central to Tsuen Wan struggle to find new tenants. Previously a popular hotspot for backpackers and tourists looking for a good deal on electronics and off-brand watches, the building was largely empty on a Saturday evening except for a few shop assistants standing around.
“While we’re cautiously optimistic that the market could pick up within the year, much of this is still dependent on whether tourists, especially those from mainland China, are going to return in full force, or whether they have found alternative avenues for shopping such as e-commerce,” Ms Leung told The Straits Times.
This has little impact, however, on Hong Kongers who plan to seek opportunities in the mainland because most who do so, are already plugged-in to China’s system, whether socially or professionally. Hong Kong, he said, has been important for fundraising, but is also a convenient meeting point for international clients simply because paperwork for foreigners to visit the city is simply less cumbersome than trying to enter the mainland.
There have also been other smaller, unofficial delegations to destinations such as Jakarta and Bangkok, said legislator Edward Leung Hei, who has been part of two such trips. Earlier this month, the Hong Kong government also launched an aggressive promotional campaign, “Hello Hong Kong”, which includes giving away 500,000 free air tickets to attract tourists.
Guangzhou-based artist Xu Haoran, 26, said he has already gone to the city twice in the past month, visiting friends and music shops.
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