‘Don’t put all our eggs in one basket’: Hong Kong hoteliers urge government not to rely on mainland Chinese tourists
Hotel industry leader says Hong Kong is ‘at a crossroads’ and needs to target new sources of growth, despite more visitors over ‘golden week’
Hong Kong’s tourism industry is “at a crossroads” and needs to target new sources of growth as mainlanders lose interest in the city, an industry leader said yesterday, despite the commerce minister announcing visitor numbers over the National Day holiday were up on last year.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung said the number of inbound tourists climbed 3.4 per cent year on year between October 1 and 5 to reach one million, and mainland visitors were up 4.3 per cent.
Despite the growth, the hotel industry urged the government to target new sources of tourists to save the slumping tourism and hospitality industry
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“Golden week”, the holiday that follows National Day on October 1, ends today. So was reluctant to draw any conclusions from the growing number of visitors in the period.
“The arrivals data might be affected by weather and a recent examination held in Hong Kong … It may seem that there are fewer shoppers on the streets. It definitely put pressure on retailers,” So said. “We still cannot jump to the conclusion that the slump has reversed.”
Michael Li Hon-shing, executive director of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, said on a radio show yesterday the tourism industry was “at a crossroads” as mainlanders, who make up 80 per cent of arrivals, are losing interest in the city.
“We should not put all our eggs in one basket,” Li said.
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He advised the industry not to rely solely on mainlanders but look to overseas tourists to boost retail sales and hotel occupancy, and target business travellers and exhibitors.
Li even suggested turning the city into an “examination hub”.
“When students across the border come to sit examinations like the SAT or Toefl, their parents would probably come along and stay for a couple of nights for education seminars,” Li said.
He added that as well as the AsiaWorld-Expo, Kowloon East or Kowloon West could also host examination venues.
More than 10,000 mainland pupils sat the SAT tests, widely used for admission to universities in the United States, at the AsiaWorld-Expo on Friday, which boosted year-on-year growth of mainland tourists to 16.2 per cent for October 1 and 22.3 per cent for October 2.
Li said hotel occupancy in the city dropped slightly during the National Day holiday, but the period was still profitable. He expected that upon the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, many visitors will only transit through the city instead of staying overnight.
The Hong Kong Retail Management Association said most of its member companies had seen single-digit or low double-digit growth in sales value during “golden week”.
