Visitor arrivals on National Day slip more than 7pc as Occupy protests bite

The number of visitors arriving in Hong Kong on National Day fell almost 30,000, or more than 7 per cent, from last year.

However, Immigration Department figures indicated a much smaller decrease for mainland visitors, of just under 2 per cent, to 157,212. Even so, that figure stood in stark contrast to last year, when visitors from the mainland rose 60 per cent from the previous year, to 160,000.

The figures for the first day of the "golden week" holiday - usually a peak time for tourism and shopping in Hong Kong - were released as shops said the widespread protests had cut business by as much as 70 per cent.

Overall, the number of arrivals on Wednesday was 375,490, down 29,510.

Luxury goods and jewellery shops that had closed in the face of the protests reopened yesterday after the operators determined the demonstrators were not a security threat.

All outlets of jeweller Chow Tai Fook were open, including 22 that had been closed a day earlier. Jewellers Chow Sang Sang and TSL reopened shops in Causeway Bay.