As the city remains at a standstill, many people worry that tourism will suffer, but new figures suggest otherwise
Even with the protests, there are still lots of tourists waiting to catch the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui.The Occupy Central movement has not affected the number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong.
Earlier this month, Xinhua news agency predicted that the number of mainland tourists would go down by 20 to 30 per cent because of the protests.
But figures released by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong last week suggest otherwise.
The council said there was a 90 per cent increase in the number of mainland tour groups.
On average, 380 mainland tour groups a day visited Hong Kong this month, compared to 200 groups a day for the same period last year.
The council's executive director Joseph Tung does not think the number of visitors has been affected.
Figures from the Immigration Department show the number of self-guided tourists has increased by 11 per cent and the overall number of mainland visitors has gone up by 16 per cent since last year.
Despite the positive numbers, local tour group bosses are worried because locals do not want to travel because of the protests.
"There are lots of students participating in the protest so parents have cancelled travel plans. The application numbers for our Christmas tours have been affected," says Jason Wong, director and general manager of Hong Thai Travel Services.