‘Fair price, fine quality’: Hong Kong fast-food chains become go-to place for mainland Chinese budget tours
- Established eatery chain Café de Coral offering bookings for mainland tour groups after overcrowded streets outside popular restaurants prompt complaints
- Tourism sector lawmaker Perry Yiu says industry exploring more dining options for tour groups, but still at ‘beginning of recovery’ after coronavirus pandemic
Fast-food restaurants across Hong Kong have become hotspots for budget tours from mainland China, as the city’s catering sector struggled to offer affordable options to accommodate a surge in visitors from across the border.
Established eatery chain Café de Coral was among those capitalising on the trend as it offered advance bookings for the tour groups, which have increased after the city fully resumed cross-border travel with the mainland earlier in the year.
A Post reporter at 11.45am on Monday observed two mainland tour groups of about 30 people each being guided from their coaches and taken to Grand Waterfront Plaza, a shopping centre in To Kwa Wan, where they dined at the site’s Café de Coral outlet.
An influx of visitors to the neighbourhood earlier prompted complaints from local residents of overcrowded streets because of budget tour groups queuing up outside two restaurants popular among such travellers.
According to local media outlets, other branches of the fast-food chain in Tai Kok Tsui and Tsing Yi have also started catering to mainland tour groups.
On Monday, the two tour groups eschewed a popular restaurant in Wyler Gardens a block away in favour of making advanced orders at the fast-food outlet.
Among those joining the long queue to grab their meal at the Café de Coral venue was a tourist surnamed Wen, from the north-eastern Chinese city of Hebei, who said the lunch was covered under the trip package’s 1,500 yuan (US$218) price tag.
“The lunch is fair for the price we paid and the food quality is fine,” said the 50-year-old, who was travelling with his wife and mother.
“We know the hotels in Hong Kong are very expensive, so we wouldn’t ask for too much when it comes to the food.”
Wen said dinner was not included in the tour price, but he planned to explore Tsim Sha Tsui for more exotic dishes later in the day.
His trip comprised two days in Hong Kong and another in Macau, before flying back to Hebei from Shenzhen, he said.
Liu Ruiqing, a visitor from Jiangxi province on the same tour, said she was very happy with her meal at the fast-food restaurant.
“I have ‘bookmarked’ this restaurant, the food is very affordable and of great quality,” said the 65-year-old, who was visiting Hong Kong for the first time and joined by her daughter and grandson.
“We were travelling on our own in the past few days, and the meals we had were quite expensive, almost twice as much as those in my hometown.”
The family said they found the tour’s price tag of around 2,000 yuan per person was slightly expensive but acceptable since “Hong Kong is an expensive city”.
On Ctrip.com, the biggest travel website on the mainland, prices for a three-day group tour to Hong Kong and Macau ranged from 999 yuan to 2,100 yuan.
A check by the Post found at least three of the more than a dozen tours on the website included dining at Café de Coral in their itineraries.
A tour guide, who asked not to be named, said: “We want our tourists to eat locally. This is where local Hongkongers have their lunch, so we believe the food quality and safety are better guaranteed.”
Secondary school pupil Timmy Yeung, 13, who also dined at the fast-food outlet at Grand Waterfront Plaza, said he felt unfazed by the tour groups’ arrival.
“They might have slightly crowded the streets, and I may need to wait longer to be served, but it’s not a big deal to me,” he said.
Choi, a 60-year-old clerk who works in the district, said she had noticed an influx of travellers but was not concerned by the trend.
“I saw quite a lot of coaches parking downstairs, but the scale was nothing compared to pre-Covid times,” she said.
Later in the day, the Post spotted some tour groups braving the strong winds and wet weather to enjoy the waterfront at Repulse Bay, with four coaches lined up along the relatively sparse Beach Road.
The situation was a marked improvement from a day earlier, when traffic became congested as tour guides were observed acting as impromptu crossing guards to stop cars and allow visitors to take pictures.
Concerns were also earlier raised about the service quality offered by some budget tours after travellers were seen gathering outside a public toilet in the area to eat cup noodles.
Despite efforts by the Tourism Industry Authority to improve dining arrangements offered by tour agencies, some travellers have complained about their experiences while in the city.
Among them was Tao, 56, who paid 4,800 yuan for a 12-day trip across southern China.
“I have always looked forward to visiting the city since the 1970s. But the city is nothing like what I have imagined or seen in the movies when I was young. I am slightly disappointed,” said the traveller from Shenyang.
Lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung, who represents the tourism sector, said the industry was exploring more dining options for tour groups while minimising the disruption to residents.
“We are still at the beginning of the recovery, and it will take time for the city to regain its tourism capacity,” he said.
“The industry is experiencing a serious manpower crunch and rents are also rising after the reopening of the border, so it’s hard to predict when more group tour restaurants will become available.”
