Hong Kong tourism desperately needs a boost in the changed post-Covid landscape

Shopping is outmoded – most holidaymakers are becoming more eco-minded and adventurous
Promoting the city as an arts and culture hub and offering more recreational activities could recapture tourists, not only from the mainland but from the rest of the world

Ken Chu

Published: 8:15am, 26 Jul 2023

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Even as Hong Kong’s tourist arrivals signal a slower than expected recovery, more Hongkongers are crossing over to Shenzhen to spend money than the other way around.

Last month, 2.75 million tourists visited Hong Kong, with mainlanders making up 2.15 million, according to preliminary Tourism Board data. For the half-year total of nearly 13 million, more than 10 million came from the mainland. Although arrivals have improved, mainland visitors remain lower than many had anticipated.

Meanwhile, there have been numerous media reports of a surge in Hongkongers taking day trips to Shenzhen for food and recreation. The plodding recovery of Hong Kong tourism is being overshadowed by these northbound crossings.

This lopsidedness is reflected in second-quarter data collected by Alipay: the amount of spending and the number of payment transactions by Hongkongers in the mainland have increased by more than threefold from the previous three months. Other travel and consumption data pointed to a similar trend. Hong Kong people are pouring into Shenzhen and the surrounding cities.

Why has the lifting of Hong Kong’s Covid-19 curbs not ushered in a surge in “revenge” tourism from the mainland? The question we should ask is, if Hong Kong is not even attractive enough for more of our own people to spend their leisure time in, how can it attract holidaymakers from the mainland?

People in Shenzhen used to be keen to go on a shopping spree in Hong Kong. At the height of the tourism boom, people in Shenzhen even took the subway to Hong Kong after work to buy soy sauce. They did it because they could save money while getting better-quality goods.

Tourists shopping on Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, on January 16, after the border between the mainland and Hong Kong reopened. Photo: Dickson Lee

But Hong Kong’s shopping discounts are no longer as tantalising and the city has few new and emerging tourist attractions. The rapid growth of shopping platforms on the mainland has also given Chinese consumers many more options and favourable deals. When so many international brands and goods are available at the click of a mouse, shopping in Hong Kong becomes less attractive.

During the Covid-19 epidemic, the mainland’s tourism industry experienced enormous challenges, prompting tourism practitioners to work even harder and make deep adjustments to reshape their businesses.

Product supply, user preferences, booking behaviour and market environment have all undergone tremendous changes. Yet most people in Hong Kong’s tourism sector do not appear to have sufficiently caught up on the changes in the global tourism market and among millennial holidaymakers.

Most holidaymakers around the globe are becoming more eco-minded and adventurous; more and more travellers are looking for activities and things that appeal to their mind and body, such as in art, culture and sports. Therefore, boosting Hong Kong’s image as a hub of art and culture and increasing the recreational activities on offer could recapture the new and younger generation of tourists, not only from the mainland but the world.

02:22

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What can Hong Kong improve upon to attract more mainland tourists? Perhaps, we can see a possible way from a very small example.

At present, there are not many exclusive local cultural and creative products at the Hong Kong Palace Museum available for tourists for buy – most of them are from the Beijing Palace Museum and available online. This weakens mainland tourist spending at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

Although this seems trivial, it reflects a need for Hong Kong’s cultural and creative tourism to work harder to make sure that visitors, whether from the mainland or elsewhere, see Hong Kong as an exciting and rewarding travel destination. It is necessary to focus on the integration of culture and tourism to attract tourists to come to Hong Kong and get to know it better.

To bring tourists back, Hong Kong must focus on the authentic and unique

Of course, we should also be well aware that it is challenging to lure Western visitors, given the hostility and distrust displayed by some countries towards mainland China and Hong Kong. To counter this, Hong Kong must continue to work on public relations in these markets.

We should explore other sources of visitors such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America while working to roll out more high-profile cultural and entertainment events. After all, arts, entertainment and sporting events can be an effective way to transcend geopolitical hostility.

Ken Chu is group chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group and a national committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference