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Alan Yu

HE HUI FENG

Blocked roads, closed shops, thunderstorms - and no fireworks.
That's the bleak prospect for the start of the national day holiday, during which free-spending visitors usually provide a boost to Hong Kong's retailers.
With pro-democracy protesters camped in the key shopping districts of Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, as well as in Central and Admiralty, some shop owners are pessimistic.
Li Chung-fai, manager at gadget retailer Life Digital in Central, said sales fell 20 per cent on Monday compared with a normal weekday.
"I have children to raise," he said. "If businesses keep losing money, lay-offs may happen, which no one wants. I'm afraid the situation will end up like that of Sars, with people staying away from Hong Kong."

Further dampening prospects are the early thunderstorms followed by showers predicted for today and cancellation of the annual fireworks display on Victoria Harbour.
Mainland-based tour agents said many groups had set off for Hong Kong and others would do so. One said its Hong Kong-bound tourists had dropped 22 per cent from last year.
The protests have left at least a dozen roads blocked, some shops closed temporarily, about 160 bus routes cancelled or re-routed and some school classes suspended.
The number of protesters snowballed in Central after the police used tear gas and pepper spray on Sunday. They then spread to other districts.
Despite the disruption, some businesses support the movement. "I agree that people should voice their discontent towards the government," Johnson Ng Ka-wo, deputy manager of Valuable Watch and Jewellery Shop on Nathan Road, said. "The situation can only be settled if Leung Chun-ying steps down. Poor governance will hurt Hong Kong's economy in the long run."
Ng said sales had dropped by 30 per cent on Monday. "Most of our customers visit during day time, but the protest crowd only grew large at night so the effect on our business has been limited."
Ocean Park said it expected fewer mainland visitors during the golden week but it was too early to predict the impact.
ANZ Research estimated sales in the holiday would shrink. "Hong Kong's retail sales will suffer if the protest continues. In the short term, the operational risk is rising in Hong Kong. In the long term, the city may lose its unique advantage as a gateway to China markets, and its economic competitiveness is a real concern."
Retail sales in August rose 3.4 per cent year-on-year, reversing a six-month decline.

Hong Kong Inbound Tour Operators Association chairman Ricky Tse Kam-ting forecast mainland tourists would be down by half during the holiday compared with last year, when 920,000 mainlanders visited the city in the first six days of October.
"I have not heard of any tour cancellations. Those with the visa will still come to Hong Kong," he said. "But [the protest] is hurting people's appetite for visiting Hong Kong. Some may choose Southeast Asia instead."
Man Yanquan, general manager of China Comfort Travel in Shenzhen, said its tour group numbers for Hong Kong had dropped 22 per cent from last year's "golden week".

Zoe Chow, 26, who arrived in Hong Kong yesterday from Guangzhou, said it was less chaotic than she had expected. "My folks in Hong Kong told me not to come because of the protest," she said.
"I couldn't [cancel] because I had booked everything."
A 38-year-old male tourist from Beijing said he was disappointed because he could not ride a tram, with services truncated by the protests, and had lost the mood to spend, as some shops were closed.
Some mainland tour agents have issued warnings.
Tommy Mao, head of Zhongshan Tour in Ningbo , Zhejing, said he had heard about tear gas being fired, but no group tours had been cancelled.
"We have guidelines for our clients and tell them not to go to areas protesters occupy," he said. "We will tell them not to clash with any Hong Kong residents and stay at hotels at night."
Additional reporting by Chris Lau and Fanny W.Y. Fung.
 


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News

Hong Kong

It's not just the fireworks that are missing. With blocked roads and shops closed, customers and tourists are too. To top it off, a storm is brewing


Blocked roads, closed shops, thunderstorms - and no fireworks. That's the bleak prospect for the start of the national day holiday, during which free-spending visitors usually provide a boost to Hong Kong's retailers.
