Hong Kong's restaurant sales rose last year to HK$61.6billion, up 9.5 per cent in value and 8.1 per cent in volume compared with 2005, according to the Census and Statistics Department.
Simon Wong Ka-wo, the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades and vice-president of the Hong Kong Food Council, said the industry had a bright future.
'Since 2003 there has been a lot of good news for Hong Kong. Last year we had about 26 million tourists visiting Hong Kong, half of them from the mainland. This accounted for substantial sales in the restaurant business, probably 5 or 6 per cent in total.'
Mr Wong said the federation's figures recorded a sales turnover of about HK$70billion last year. This figure was slightly higher than the official government figure because it included areas not taken into account by the government such as sales in private kitchens and by street hawkers.
However, he said that the industry faced some serious difficulties. These included increases in rents, overheads and food costs. The strengthening of the yuan also played a role, as more than 85 per cent of food products were imported from the mainland.
'Rents will remain strong in the next few years, and our gross profit is declining,' he said. 'Operating expenses are high and rents have doubled since before the outbreak of Sars.