Developers pour cash into retail upgrades
Hong Kong developers are earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars for aggressive promotional campaigns and shopping mall upgrades in a race to lure mainland tourists. Companies such as Wharf Holdings, Hysan Development and Cheung Kong (Holdings) all want to cash in on the estimated 10 million mainland tourists forecast to travel to Hong Kong each year following the central government's decision last month to relax restrictions on individual visits.
Residents of the Pearl River Delta cities of Dongguan, Foshan, Jiangmen and Zhongshan will be the first to be able to visit Hong Kong individually rather than with tour groups. The scheme will be extended in stages to travellers from three more Guangdong cities - Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai - as well as Beijing and Shanghai.
'We are exploring co-operation opportunities with various mainland banks to offer special promotions to their credit card holders as a way luring high-income tourists to our shopping centres,' said Karen Tam, promotion and advertising manager of Harbour City Estates, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wharf Holdings. Details of bill settlements in yuan still needed to be discussed with banks, she said.
Wharf owns two million square feet of retail space, including Harbour City and Harbour Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. It also operates three hotels in the district - Marco Polo Prince, Marco Polo Gateway and Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel. To draw mainlanders' attention, Ms Tam said Wharf also planned to step up advertising campaigns across the border.
Ms Tam said an average 170,000 shoppers visited Harbour Centre each weekend, compared with an average 140,000 during the pre-Sars period. 'The number of customers in our shopping malls has increased significantly of late,' she said.
Mainland tourists' preference for world-renowned international designer labels has prompted luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent to open its largest Asian store in Harbour City next month.
A spokeswoman for Times Square, another Wharf-owned shopping mall, in Causeway Bay, said up to 100 retailers would co-operate in a promotional campaign aimed at luring more tourists, including those from the mainland.
A spokeswoman for Hysan Development said the company was formulating a promotional campaign for its shopping malls in Causeway Bay, such as the Caroline Centre retail podium and Lee Gardens.
'We are now upgrading Caroline Centre into a high-end shopping arcade to complement nearby Lee Gardens,' she said. Work started in March on a $140 million renovation of the Caroline Centre, with completion due in October.
Cheung Kong (Holdings) said it would spend $30 million to promote its shopping centres, particularly those in Hunghom.
