Mainland Chinese visitors to make Hong Kong Book Fair a bestselling event, organiser says
- Event organiser ‘confident’ following roadshows in Guangzhou and Shenzhen as well as positive response on social media platform Xiaohongshu
The organiser of the 2024 Hong Kong Book Fair has expressed confidence that this year’s turnout will be strong, with visitors from mainland China set to bolster attendance numbers.
The 34th edition of the annual book fair will kick off on Wednesday and last until July 23 at Wan Chai’s Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre under the theme of Film and Television Literature.
Sophia Chong Suk-fan, deputy executive director of fair organiser the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said she felt “confident” following efforts to publicise the event on the mainland.
“We also did some roadshows in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to raise publicity for the event, and the feedback we’ve seen on Xiaohongshu has been very supportive of the writers we chose to promote,” she said, referring to Chinese Instagram-like social media platform.
“Of course, there are many factors to consider, such as the weather, especially since it is typhoon season.”
She noted the forecast was clear and wet weather arrangements had been made so visitors lining up outdoors would mostly be covered by marquees.
She said she also hoped the Exhibition Centre MTR station would make it even easier for locals and mainland visitors to come to the venue.
Some vendors were hopeful business would be better this year.
“We do wish sales will improve by around 15 per cent,” said Sandy Yan Shuk-ping, marketing manager at Ming Pao Publications.
She said turnout was “rather low” last year, possibly because the city was still adjusting to the newly relaxed pandemic restrictions.
“This year, we hope people can stay and spend [money] in Hong Kong,” Yan said.
She added recent events such as the Doraemon exhibition in Tsim Sha Tsui had created buzz for Hong Kong and would help bolster the fair’s turnout.
Yan also revealed works by the late Hong Kong science fiction writer Ni Kuang were typically popular with mainlanders, as well as Chinese fortune-telling books by famous masters such as Mak Ling-ling.
But Simpson Wong Hing-hung, publishing manager at iGlobe Publishing, which specialises in travel books, was less optimistic, because overall sales for the first half of this year had fallen by around 30 per cent compared with the same period in 2023.
“Last year, borders had just reopened, so perhaps people flocked to buy travel books as they prepared to head out of town,” he said. “People don’t tend to buy travel books again for another two years afterwards.”
But he remained hopeful his company’s publications about Hong Kong culture and new books about Shenzhen travel would do well.
This year’s fair will be held concurrently with a Sports and Leisure Expo and World of Snacks events, featuring a combined 760 vendors.
The fair will be open from 10am to 10pm throughout the first six days, and from 9am to 5pm on the final day. Adult tickets are HK$30 (US$3.8), while children’s tickets are HK$10. Children under three and elderly residents can enter for free.
