Hong Kong restaurants feel pinch with New Year visitor numbers at 66% of pre-pandemic levels
- Visitors made 194,930 trips to Hong Kong on Saturday, with 77 per cent of them from mainland China
- Financial Secretary Paul Chan says Hong Kong will be pushing to boost its global presence in 2024 and run a series of mega-events
The number of travellers visiting Hong Kong during the New Year holiday is at 66 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with the catering industry complaining about a business slump as more people opt to spend the long weekend elsewhere.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday however said Hong Kong would be pushing to boost its global presence in 2024 and run a series of mega-events covering areas such as sports, culture, trade and finance to woo tourists.
With the city holding its biggest and longest countdown fireworks yet to ring in 2024, a catering industry leader said restaurants on both sides of Victoria Harbour were fully booked on Sunday night but ones elsewhere were “quite deserted”.
“On top of the fact a lot of residents have gone to mainland China over the holiday, the overall spending power of Hongkongers has been weak,” said Simon Wong Ka-wo, the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades.
“Even if some restaurants are fully booked, there are not enough customers to keep the business up and running for the whole night.”
Wong said customers were choosing cheaper options and not willing to spend too much on eating out.
On Saturday, visitors made 194,930 trips to Hong Kong, with 77 per cent from mainland China. The number was just 66 per cent compared to the same day in 2018, and 72 per cent for 2017, according to government data.
