Opinion | Hong Kong is more than a grocery store for mainland Chinese visitors
Michael Chugani says the devastating impact of ever more mainland visitors on our quality of life must lead us to rethink our welcome
Friends of a friend visited from Shenzhen last Saturday. I asked them why they looked so cross. They explained it had taken them almost two hours to pass through immigration at the Lo Wu border. I told them such long waits are normal at weekends. They told me of impatient visitors yelling abusive language at Hong Kong border officials. I told them that's normal too; I've seen it myself.
They wanted to go shopping in Mong Kok. If you haven't been, don't, unless you enjoy fighting thick crowds. The place swarms with mainland tourists packing everything from Chinese medicine and baby milk powder to toothpaste into their oversized cases.
A day earlier, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung dropped the bombshell that visitor numbers would jump from last year's 54.3 million to 70 million in three years, the bulk of whom will be mainlanders. This would climb to 100 million by 2023. The commerce chief thinks Hong Kong can handle it. Either he hasn't been to Mong Kok or Lo Wu, or he's bonkers.
To justify not imposing a limit on visitors, So used the stale argument that mainland tourists contribute hugely to our economy, providing 230,000 jobs.
Here's what I want to ask So: how many of those holding these wonderful jobs qualify for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's welfare handouts for the working poor? Quite a lot, I suspect. They're dead-end retail sector jobs that pay far less than Hong Kong's median monthly household income of HK$20,700. The only people profiting are the owners of cosmetics stores and luxury brand shops.
To further justify not capping visitor numbers, So said that, as a free port, Hong Kong could not and should not set a limit. Wrong. All free ports set a limit through visa control. Most countries grant visas only to genuine tourists with financial means. The bulk of the mainlanders who come here to buy baby milk powder or Chinese medicine would not qualify for US or Japanese tourist visas.
