Gold hunt: jewellery outshines luxury goods in golden week

Mainland tourists spent less on luxury products during the first two days of the "golden week" holiday as they remained preoccupied with gold hunting.

"Gold products, including nuggets, bracelets and necklaces, are still the top priority of mainlanders, although the spending has come off the peak now," said Maureen Fung Sau-yim, the general manager of retail leasing firm Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency.

The firm is a subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai Properties and manages the apm shopping mall in Kwun Tong.

Holidaymakers joining tours to visit the apm mall spent a quarter of their stay in the gold and jewellery shops, at the expense of visits to other shops, Fung said.

However, spending on gold products fell below HK$30,000 per tourist, down from HK$50,000 to HK$60,000 on average last week, partly because some of the more popular products were out of stock after the gold rush in the previous weeks.

Most of the bracelets featuring the dragon and phoenix are out of stock as people snapped them up for wedding gifts during the slump in gold prices.

"We have already been refilling stock more frequently to keep up with projected sales during the holiday but it is still not enough," said a Luk Fook Jewellery spokesman.