Retail chief warns of impact from tourist curbs

Retail mogul Dickson Poon Tik-Sang yesterday said he is "extremely opposed" to any moves to cut mainland visitors to Hong Kong by 20 per cent.

"It will have a huge impact not only on the retail industry but all complementary sectors and the entire economy will be impacted," Poon said of the calls in some quarters for curbs on visitors numbers.

He made the comments yesterday at a results briefing for his firm Dickson Concepts - the owner of high-end department store Harvey Nichols - which posted muted first-quarter profit growth.

Profit for the year to March was HK$154.8 million. Excluding the HK$77.6 million the group received last year for the sale of the American Eagle Outfitters licence, profit rose 2 per cent year on year.

"We should very carefully analyse how we can have a mutually beneficial solution," Poon said, referring to community concerns over the influx of mainland visitors. "I think a lot of Hong Kong citizens are affected in their daily lives by parallel traders buying baby milk powder or medicine. In this aspect I think that we should find out if there's a way to control these kinds of parallel traders.

"On the other hand, mainland shoppers who come to buy luxury clothes, watches and jewellery and make-up shouldn't affect the majority of Hong Kong citizens because these products have enough inventory to cater to local as well as overseas consumers."