Mainland Chinese visitors start to return to Hong Kong after Covid-19 restrictions lifted, but most tours low-cost and short stay, figures reveal
- Tourism figures from February to this month show 86 per cent of tour trips from mainland China lasted one to two days and 54 per cent cost less than 500 yuan
- Travel Industry Authority confirms it is investigating allegations of cigarette smuggling by mainland Chinese tour groups
Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau statistics released on Wednesday to lawmakers showed that, out of 9,674 mainland tour visits between February 6 and May 7, 86 per cent of them spent one to two days in the city and 54 per cent cost less than 500 yuan (US$72).
Most of them favoured visitor hotspots such as the Hong Kong Observation Wheel in Central, Ocean Park in Southern district and the landmark Peak Tram, as well as newer attractions, including the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Xiqu Centre and M+ museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District arts hub.
The authorities compiled the data in response to a request by lawmaker Kwok Wai-keung, who asked for statistics on six attractions – the Palace Museum, M+, Xiqu Centre, the Observation Wheel, Peak Tram and Water World Ocean Park.
The city and the mainland did not restore restriction-free travel until February 6. About 25 million mainlanders visited the city in tour groups in 2019, accounting for about 57 per cent of all cross-border arrivals.
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“The expected recovery depends on what types of tourists Hong Kong can attract, as the composition of tourists has a structural difference compared with the pre-Covid groups,” said Gary Ng Cheuk-yan, a senior economist with Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank.
As Hong Kong was desperate to bring tourism back to full strength, Ng said, the government had a strategy to attract as many as it could but had lost focus on targeting those who would splurge on luxury goods.
He also said “it would be hard to see a change of scene in short-stay tourists” in coming months.
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The news came as the Travel Industry Authority, the sector’s watchdog, said it was investigating allegations that mainland visitors had been asked to smuggle cigarettes into the city by a tour guide over the five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday.
The authority was responding to questions from lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung at the Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday about the resurgence of low-price tour groups, where mainland tourists were brought to public rental housing in Hong Kong as part of their itineraries and asked to help smuggle cigarettes.
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Raistlin Lau, the acting Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the authority had not received any complaints related to such practices, but was aware that they had been the focus of public attention over the past few days.
Lau told Legco that the authority would “follow up on prosecution and disciplinary action” if tour guides were found to have breached the law.
There were 453 mainland tour groups involving 14,000 people, an average of 30 in each, who visited the city over golden week.
Lau said tour groups were “in good order” and traffic and operations in popular tourist areas were mostly smooth.
The authority said it last year outlawed mainland tour groups that charged no fares, but forced tourists to go on coerced shopping trips and even abandoned them.
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Tony Tse, professor of practice and programme director at Polytechnic University, said he believed mainlanders’ decision to stay briefly in Hong Kong was temporary.
“I’m sure the proportion of overnight visitors will increase over time when mainlanders are more comfortable with longer overseas holidays and more accommodation supplies are available,” he said.
Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau chief Erick Tsang Kwok-wai also revealed that about a million home return permits issued to residents, required to cross the border, had expired.
The permits ran out between January 1 and December 30, 2020, but people will be allowed to use them until the end of the year as city authorities were unable to cope with the massive demand for renewals.
