Shopping paradise no more? Mainland Chinese tourists, travel agents disagree over Hong Kong’s appeal as demand for city trips drops

Demand for Hong Kong tour packages among mainland Chinese travellers has failed to take off despite the reopening of the border, travel agents have said, while some visitors have complained the city has lost its edge as a shopping paradise.

The situation has sparked a debate between Hong Kong’s tourism sector, which insists that tax-free shopping items are still appealing to mainland travellers, and its counterpart across the border urging the city to change its strategy to draw in visitors.

The number of mainland tourists surpassed 1 million last month after the gradual return of cross-border travel over the first two months of the year. But the figure was still a far cry from the levels before the Covid-19 pandemic and 2019 anti-government protests, with 51 million mainland visitors heading to the city in 2018.

Jia Jia, a travel influencer with 1 million followers on Chinese social media, said the city’s tourism and service industries should rethink their strategy for mainland visitors, adding their eagerness to visit Hong Kong had faded in recent years as their view of the city as a top travel destination had diminished.

“In fact, many mainland consumers, especially young people, are not even interested in going shopping in Hong Kong, because shopping there is not as good as before,” he said.

The influencer said travel agencies were still running low-price shopping tours to the city despite the mainland’s e-commerce platforms offering goods from the rest of the world at cheaper prices than Hong Kong.

Jia Jia, who operates trips to the city that involve taking tourists to destinations tailored to their preferences in high-end vans, said Hong Kong should focus on attractions for young mainland visitors who have a growing interest in hiking, camping and experiencing international culture.