Tourists help boost HK's retail trade (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-10-03 11:00
Hong Kong's retail sector
benefited a lot from the strong inflow of the so-called "consumption engine" -
the Chinese mainland tourists since October 1, the start of the seven-day
National Day holiday or the Golden Week.
According to the latest figures released by the Immigration Department
Saturday, a total of 293,486 people traveled in from Hong Kong's land, sea and
air check points Friday, and 147,009 of them arrived in Hong Kong via Lo Wu
Check Point. Among them were a number of tourists under Individual Travel Scheme
for shopping.
Digital camera, MP3, new varieties of mobile phones continue to be one of the
favorite shopping targets of quite a number of Chinese mainland tourists. Their
per capita expenditure in electrical appliance shops in downtown areas as Mong
Kok and Causeway Bay reached HK$3,500 to 5,000 (US$449-641).
Brand watches and jewelry have the choice of other tourists. Chow Tai Fook
Jewelry Co Ltd, having over 40 shops in Hong Kong, also received much more
Chinese mainland tourists Friday and Saturday.
Mr Lei, a district manager of Chow Tai Fook in Kowloon, said that the average
number of Chinese mainland consumers and sales volume of each shops increased by
20 percent and 15 percent respectively.
He said about 50 percent to 60 percent of consumers in some shops in Mong Kok
and Tsim Sha Tsui were Chinese mainland tourists Friday. Some even bought
jewelry pieces after watch the fireworks display Friday night. Each consumer
spent HK$1,000 to 5,000 on an average, some spent much more to buy diamond
rings.
Fashions, brand handbag are always the "necessaries" of modern ladies. With
the coming of the Golden Week, big shopping malls as Times Square and SOGO
opened bazaars to attract more customers.
Ms Zhang from Beijing saw a Lancel bag sold at a discounted price. As she
learnt in Beijing that the same sort of product is sold at a tripled price, she
bought a milk white handbag without hesitation.
SOGO also extends its business hour for half an hour longer until October 5.
Harbor City, MTR shops also provide preferential arrangements for their
customers.
As a new trend for the Golden Week, property developers and real estate
agents as Midland China arranged "property visiting tours" for Chinese mainland
businessmen, who hope to expend their business in Hong Kong.
With checks and China UnionPay cards in hand, 40 people attended Midland
China's HK tour Friday. Four of them bought six residential units which involved
over HK$26 million. A survey conducted by Midland China that 50 percent of the
members of the tour planned to buy newly built houses in Hong Kong.
Property circle here estimated that more than 1,000 Chinese mainland
businessmen are expected to join the property tours in Hong Kong during the
Golden Week.
According to the Immigration Department, the number of visitors to Hong Kong
under Individual Visit Scheme rose remarkably in comparison with that of in the
previous Golden Week in May.
More than 25,000 Chinese mainland people traveled in Hong Kong individually
Thursday, up 58 percent over a year earlier while the number for October 1 is
expected to exceed 34,000, a record single day number set in
May.
