Shop till you drop: trips to mainland Chinese bulk retailers a hit with young Hongkongers
- Travel tours with a new emphasis on shopping prove popular with young city residents as operators add more specialist trips to their itineraries
- Tour operators say numbers joining mainland trips have surged in wake of coronavirus pandemic
Travel tours with itineraries focused on shopping in popular supermarkets in nearby Shenzhen and other mainland Chinese cities have become a hit with young Hongkongers after agencies launched new packages to cater to a growing appetite for splashing the cash across the border.
City tour operators said on Thursday the number of Hongkongers who had joined their trips to the mainland had surged after the coronavirus pandemic.
They added the tours were especially popular with younger people who wanted to explore and shop for bargains, as well as for items only available on the mainland.
About 10 travel agencies have launched such tour packages, sparked by a trend towards people shopping in popular over-the-border destinations like the members-only bulk retailer Sam’s Club, Timothy Chui Ting-pong, the executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said.
“We have seen more people join our tours to the mainland after the coronavirus pandemic,” Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, the executive director of EGL Tours, said.
He added that the number of people travelling to the mainland was three times higher than before the pandemic.
