'Golden Week' not so golden for Hong Kong
Mainland Chinese tourists seem less enthusiastic about visiting Hong Kong this year during the week-long Chinese National Day holiday, or "Golden Week."
Each year, mainland visitors flood the town during the first week of October, checking out the Big Buddha and Disneyland, bemoaning the lack of spicy food on Cantonese restaurant menus, but chiefly spending money on luxury goods that cost much less in Hong Kong.
Retailers in Hong Kong look forward to the surge in mainland visitors during Golden Week for a jump in sales.
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According to Mingpao Daily, this year's mainland visitors numbers are expected to increase by just 10 percent, a considerable decline from past increases of 20 to 30 percent.
Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, says figures at present show that an average of 385 tour groups per day will come from the mainland, a 10 percent growth on the 350 groups per day average of 2010.
As a pessimistic sign, Chow Sang Sang and Sasa, two favorite Hong Kong retail giants of mainland visitors, saw their stocks fall up to 30 percent this month.
All this is amidst talks in Beijing of reducing tax on the domestic consumption of luxury goods. If the tax cut goes through, mainland Chinese may feel less inclined to travel to Hong Kong to buy their luxury brand wear, cosmetics and jewelery as local distributors will be able to offer competitive prices.
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Mingpao also says Beijing's new policies in other tourism hot spots have directed attention away from Hong Kong.
Hainan Island lures visitors with its gorgeous tropical setting and an offshore duty-free policy for domestic tourists implemented earlier this year.
Restrictions on independent Chinese travellers to Taiwan have also been relaxed by Beijing since June this year.
