Gloomy outlook for Hong Kong’s hotel and catering sectors in Mid-Autumn holiday period
Miramar hotel chain records lower occupancy rates despite reducing rates by as much as 20 per cent, while catering industry struggles over weekend
Representatives from both sectors on Monday attributed the gloomy outlook to the strong Hong Kong dollar, which made the city less attractive to mainland Chinese tourists, as well as a shorter holiday period.
The Mid-Autumn break lasts for three days on the mainland this year, down from eight last year when the festival took place just two days before National Day on October 1 and formed a longer holiday period.
Alan Chan Chung-yee, chief operations officer of Miramar Group, which runs two hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay, said that business was slower this year, prompting the chain to slash room rates by 10 to 20 per cent.
“We have to maintain the occupancy rate, and the hotel price was the only thing we could adjust … the bookings are arriving a lot slower than last year, as tourists may be treating Hong Kong as a backup plan only when they can’t travel elsewhere,” he said.
“We have to be very prudent in our operations,” he added, noting that even with a 12 per cent reduction in prices, the Tsim Sha Tsui hotel’s occupancy rate stood at around 85 per cent – down from 92.7 per cent last year – with some walk-ins expected.
