bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Celine Sun

Hong Kong tourism promoters plan to hand out 2,000 sets of shopping coupons across the border to attract tourists and stimulate spending in the city. 
The first batch of 500 Shenzhen residents received discount coupons yesterday, a week ahead of the three-day May Day holiday on the mainland. 
Each will enjoy up to HK$2,300 in discounts provided by 32 shops across the city, including jeweller Chow Tai Fook, cosmetics retailer Sasa, shopping centre chain Wing On and pharmacy chain Mannings. The discounts  range from HK$1 to HK$500.
Describing it as an 'unprecedented measure', lawmaker Vincent Fang Kang,  who represents the wholesale and retail sector and is also convenor of the  Joint Coalition Against Financial Tsunami,  said the coupons could 'save a lot of money for shoppers'. 
Tying  in with the theme of Mother's Day  next month, the coupons, which are to be distributed this month and next,  will focus on goods targeted at women, such as clothes, jewellery, cosmetics, health food and electronic appliances.
The coalition will also hand out 8,000 sets of coupons to Hongkongers from Thursday through shops that have joined the promotion.
Mr Fang said the group was also preparing to issue  another 20,000 sets of coupons offering discounts at  another 60 shops. 
About 20 per cent of those would go to mainland tourists.
'The local retail industry has suffered a decline over the past months,' Mr Fang said. 'We hope to encourage consumers to spend more in Hong Kong this way.' 
Mr Fang said the campaign would continue until the end of the year, with each month featuring a different shopping theme. 
Tourism Board chairman James Tien Pei-chun  said he expected the new measure to bring more mainland visitors to Hong Kong. 
'The number of mainland tourists rose by 14 to 15 per cent in the first quarter this year,' he said. 'We expect similar growth [during the May Day holiday], but it's always hard to say, considering the current economic situation.'
Since April 1,  permanent residents of Shenzhen  have been allowed to apply for one-year multi-entry visas to Hong Kong. In the past, most residents had to apply for single-entry visas  whenever they wanted to cross the border.
According to the exit-entry division of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, 106,000 people have submitted applications this month, and nearly 70,000 of them have received multi-entry visas. 
Jiang Feng , deputy head of the exit-entry division, said it was studying the feasibility of expanding the scheme to non-permanent residents of Shenzhen. 
'This measure is not likely to take effect before the national holiday in May,' he said. 'But it is supposed to come into effect this year.'
Shenzhen has about 2.3 million permanent residents and 8 million non-permanent residents. 
Mr Tien estimated that 800,000 non-permanent residents would be potential visitors to Hong Kong.
Purchasing pool
About 106,000 people have submitted applications for multi-entry visas to Hong Kong 
Of those, the number who have already received them is: 70,000
The number of non-permanent Shenzhen residents who could cross the border, according to Tourism Board chairman James Tien Pei-chun, is: 800,000



Coupon kick-start for the economy