Sa Sa International says its Golden Week sales fell 10.4 per cent this year as Mainland Chinese chose to holiday elsewhere.
The company said unaudited same store sales from October 1 to 7 in Hong Kong and Macau dropped by 8.7 per cent.
Chairman and CEO Dr Simon Kwok, said although government data showed a modest 2.3 per cent increase in the number of Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong during the period, the local retail market failed to benefit because a substantial part of the growth was driven by transit tourists and those who visited on student visas.
Moreover, the growth was far weaker than the growth of overall outbound traffic from China which was announced by the China National Tourism Administration, indicating that mainland tourists were attracted by destinations other than Hong Kong.
“According to China’s leading online travel agency, Ctrip.com, the ranking of Hong Kong on the list of most visited destinations by Chinese tourists during National Day Golden Week Holiday has dropped from first place last year to fourth place this year, reflecting a sharp decline in the competitiveness of Hong Kong as a tourist city,” Kwok said.
“The substantially strengthened tourist facilities and convenient immigration policies offered by other countries improved their attraction to mainland tourists while the strong Hong Kong dollar and depreciating yuan contributed to the slowdown of growth in mainland visitors to Hong Kong.”
Kwok said he expects tourism and retail industries in Hong Kong would no longer be driven by long holidays in China unless there are substantial measures taken to improve the competitiveness of tourism in Hong Kong.
“However, the Group will continue to optimise product offerings and enhance customers’ shopping experience to cater for demands in the fast changing market.”