HONG KONG remains an attractive business hub in the Asia-Pacific region with a 26 per cent increase in the number of regional operations set up by foreign companies, despite high labour and accommodation cost and political uncertainty.
A survey by the Industry Department revealed there were 714 regional headquarters and 1,132 regional offices in Hong Kong as at June 1, which represented a rise of 14 per cent and 34 per cent respectively over the previous period.
Between 94 per cent and 96 per cent of respondents said they would continue to use Hong Kong as their regional headquarters or offices.
Sixteen companies indicated their intention to relocate their regional operations, citing reasons of costs in Hong Kong and attractiveness of other locations in Asia.
The survey was conducted in two parts, with the first half seeking to ascertain the number of regional operations while the latter part explored companies' views on how favourable Hong Kong was as a regional base.
The first part of survey received responses from 41 per cent of 7,219 companies while the second half had a response rate of 81 per cent, with 200 companies polled.
