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Hong Kong shopping centres enjoy boost in footfall with Olympic tie-in events, promos

  • Henderson Land Development says dozens of shopping malls under its portfolio recorded better-than-expected foot traffic over past fortnight

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Mall-goers watch Hong Kong table tennis athletes compete against South Korea during the Paris Games. Photo: May Tse
Footfall at some Hong Kong shopping centres rose as high as 20 per cent during the Olympic Games from the week before, with live-streaming events and other tie-in promotions helping to give venues a much-needed shot in the arm.
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Henderson Land Development executive director Augustine Wong Ho-ming said in an interview that the dozens of shopping malls under the company’s portfolio recorded better-than-expected footfall over the past fortnight.

“Looking back at the last two weeks, we saw our foot traffic go up by around 20 per cent [from a week before],” he said. “Originally, we were expecting an increase of just about 15 per cent, but perhaps the Games coinciding with the summer holiday pushed things further.”

The uptick comes at a time when the retail sector is contending with Hongkongers heading across the border for cheaper goods and services in cities such as Shenzhen.

Wong said that shopping centres with large open areas or atriums were better suited to hosting Olympic viewing parties and events, with such venues being the main beneficiaries amid the Games as smaller sites faced space limitations and the possibility of creating noise disturbances.

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But he added that the time difference between Paris and Hong Kong had inevitably put a slight damper on the malls’ performance compared with the Tokyo Games.

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