Tourists help boost HK's retail trade
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-03 11:00

According to the latest figures released by the Immigration Department Saturday, a total of 293,486 people traveled in from Hong Kong's land, sea and air check points Friday, and 147,009 of them arrived in Hong Kong via Lo Wu Check Point. Among them were a number of tourists under Individual Travel Scheme for shopping.

Digital camera, MP3, new varieties of mobile phones continue to be one of the favorite shopping targets of quite a number of Chinese mainland tourists. Their per capita expenditure in electrical appliance shops in downtown areas as Mong Kok and Causeway Bay reached HK$3,500 to 5,000 (US$449-641).

Brand watches and jewelry have the choice of other tourists. Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Co Ltd, having over 40 shops in Hong Kong, also received much more Chinese mainland tourists Friday and Saturday.

Mr Lei, a district manager of Chow Tai Fook in Kowloon, said that the average number of Chinese mainland consumers and sales volume of each shops increased by 20 percent and 15 percent respectively.

He said about 50 percent to 60 percent of consumers in some shops in Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui were Chinese mainland tourists Friday. Some even bought jewelry pieces after watch the fireworks display Friday night. Each consumer spent HK$1,000 to 5,000 on an average, some spent much more to buy diamond rings.

Fashions, brand handbag are always the "necessaries" of modern ladies. With the coming of the Golden Week, big shopping malls as Times Square and SOGO opened bazaars to attract more customers.

Ms Zhang from Beijing saw a Lancel bag sold at a discounted price. As she learnt in Beijing that the same sort of product is sold at a tripled price, she bought a milk white handbag without hesitation.

SOGO also extends its business hour for half an hour longer until October 5. Harbor City, MTR shops also provide preferential arrangements for their customers.

As a new trend for the Golden Week, property developers and real estate agents as Midland China arranged "property visiting tours" for Chinese mainland businessmen, who hope to expend their business in Hong Kong.

With checks and China UnionPay cards in hand, 40 people attended Midland China's HK tour Friday. Four of them bought six residential units which involved over HK$26 million. A survey conducted by Midland China that 50 percent of the members of the tour planned to buy newly built houses in Hong Kong.

Property circle here estimated that more than 1,000 Chinese mainland businessmen are expected to join the property tours in Hong Kong during the Golden Week.

According to the Immigration Department, the number of visitors to Hong Kong under Individual Visit Scheme rose remarkably in comparison with that of in the previous Golden Week in May.

More than 25,000 Chinese mainland people traveled in Hong Kong individually Thursday, up 58 percent over a year earlier while the number for October 1 is expected to exceed 34,000, a record single day number set in May.

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