1.4 million mainland Chinese passenger trips made to Hong Kong over ‘golden week’

More than 1.4 million mainland Chinese passenger trips were made to Hong Kong during the National Day “golden week” holiday, official data has shown, but the number still fell short of the city government’s expectations of nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels of 1.52 million.

While Hong Kong retailers and caterers reported business growth of up to 20 per cent year on year during the break, a sector representative said on Thursday that tourists’ spending power had remained weak.

According to the latest figures from the Immigration Department, the number of inbound trips made by mainland visitors during the eight-day break, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, marked a 15 per cent increase from the seven-day National Day holiday last year.

The number of inbound mainland passenger trips for the entire holiday this year stood at more than 1.4 million, including those who joined the 1,300 mainland tours to the city, while the figure for the first seven days was about 1.29 million and represented a 6.4 per cent increase from last year’s seven-day break.

But the larger figure still failed to meet the department’s earlier estimate of 1.5 million for the entire holiday, a forecast close to the 1.52 million recorded in 2018.

Annie Tse Yau On-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, described the retail sector’s performance as “stable” during the holiday, thanks to local and tourist consumption.