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Mercedes Hutton
Mercedes Hutton

Destinations known | Have mainland Chinese tourists ever really been welcome in Hong Kong?

  • Economist warns it might be ‘some time’ before visitors from mainland China return to the territory
  • Hong Kong tourism is seeing the worst downturn since the Sars outbreak in 2003

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Mainland Chinese tourists at the Avenue of Stars, in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, in May. Photo: Sam Tsang
Mercedes Hutton

“Hong Kong’s tourism industry has withstood the effects of economic uncertainty, wars and terrorism in the past,” stated the Tourism Board’s Year in Review 2003-04 report. “But it is doubtful that any event has affected the industry so critically as the battle against Sars.”

Until now, perhaps. The year 2019 has been a similarly tough one for the travel sector, as six months of protests have dented the city’s appeal. Arrivals for October plunged 43.7 per cent from the same month in 2018, closing in on rates not seen since the threat from severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) peaked in May 2003, with the current slump led by an almost 50 per cent decline in mainland Chinese tourists. The outlook is not expected to improve in the foreseeable future, either.

Appearing on CNBC on December 3, Martin Rasmussen, China economist at Capital Economics, said: “It’s a bit hard to know what will happen this month, but in terms of mainland Chinese visitors […] we don’t think that they will feel welcome in the city again any time soon, especially given the big step up [in coverage] in the state media on the mainland regarding the Hong Kong situation. We think that it’ll take quite a while for mainland Chinese visitors to return.”

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And will they be welcome when they do? Have mainland Chinese tourists, easily the city’s largest source market, ever really been welcome in Hong Kong?

Mainland Chinese tourists return to Hong Kong after the threat of Sars, in June 2003. Photo: SCMP
Mainland Chinese tourists return to Hong Kong after the threat of Sars, in June 2003. Photo: SCMP
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When international exploration first became an option for travellers from the Middle Kingdom, in the 1990s, the territory was an early beneficiary thanks to its proximity, both geographically and culturally, to the mainland.
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