Same-store sales for Hong Kong jewellery retailer Luk Fook Holdings International have slid for the ninth consecutive month, leading to a 27 per cent drop for the quarter ended March.
Hong Kong and Macau led the Luk Fook sales retreat with a 28 per cent fall – the worst showing in three quarters – while the market in China stepped back 19 per cent.
The company’s outlook was already looking bleak in the previous quarter, when it posted a 25 per cent drop in overall sales.
Its latest setback came as Hong Kong marked the first anniversary of the implementation of stricter entry rules on mainland Chinese visitors, reports the Hong Kong Economic Journal. Under the new rules, Shenzhen permanent residents can visit Hong Kong only once a week using their multiple-entry permits.
Aimed at curbing parallel traders, the measure resulted in a 20 per cent drop in the number of visitors from the mainland, says the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The number of tour groups from China also slid – about 60 per cent from a year ago to 11,000 groups in the first quarter this year.
HKTA has called on the government to make entry easier for people living in first- and second-tier cities in the central and northern regions of China.