Hong Kong Experiences Poor Holiday Tourist Week
Local media report that the May Golden Week was the worst on record for Hong Kong's tourism industry because fewer people from the mainland visited the area, mainly due to a sharp increase of hotel room rate in the region.
Hong Kong received over 387,000 Chinese mainland tourists from April 29 to May 7, less than the expected tourist arrival number of 430,000 for the Golden Week. According to a Hong Kong association of travel agencies in charge of inbound tourist groups, the number of tourist groups to Hong Kong during the Golden Week decreased by at least 30%.
Wu Guangwei, chair of Hong Kong Inbound Travel Service Association, said that expensive room rate was one of the factors that frightened the tourists away. He says that room rate already accounted for two thirds of the tour fee that many Chinese visitors would pay to visit Hong Kong.
The business income of the Hong Kong retail sector also declined by about 10% compared with the same period last year.