The number of visitors to Hong Kong continued to fall in the first quarter of this year. The harassment of mainland visitors and demonstrations against parallel traders are to blame, experts say. Roy Liu / China Daily

Industry leaders warn Labor Day holidays will not heal the pain, and it could be worse than last year

Tourism industry leaders have dashed hopes of the upcoming Labor Day holidays granting a respite to Hong Kong's battered tourism sector, saying they see no quick fix in sight.

"Business is obviously going to be worse than last year's. There's not even a clue when the momentum (of tourist arrivals) will pick up," said Sara Leung Fong-yuen, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Employees General Union.

Despite the three-day holiday break starting on Friday, along with the traditional peak season for local tourism, many tour guilds have yet to receive any booking, Leung told China Daily. "In the past, it would be one of the busiest times of the year. Tour agents would have been hunting around for extra helpers," she said.

Tourism industry leaders have lamented that Hong Kong has lost its appeal with mainland tourists - the city's largest source of visitors.

Peter Lam Kin-ngok, chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, said on Monday the number of tourist arrivals has continued to fall, recording a single-digit decline in the first half of this month.

During the recent Ching Ming Festival holidays, the total number of visitors dropped by 12.4 percent from a year ago, while the number of visitors from the mainland slipped 14 percent, according to Gregory So Kam-leung, secretary for commerce and economic development.

The downtrend accelerated from March, when the number of visitors was down by 8.7 percent from a year earlier. According to the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, the number of mainland tour groups to the SAR plunged by 41.9 percent last month to 9,350.

So far this month, the city has played host to only 370 tour groups a day - 100 less than last year - noted Yiu Si-wing, a lawmaker for the tourism functional constituency. The occupancy rate of local hotels fell from 90 percent to about 82 percent.

"The sluggish situation is to stay in May. The Labor Day break is too short to attract tourists from farther than Guangdong province. In fact, it's not likely to improve until mid-year. Mainland tourists have now realized they are not welcome here," Yiu said.

The recent violent protests targeting both parallel traders and mainland visitors have been blamed for the sharp fall in the number of mainland visitors. "The harassment of mainland tourists at shopping malls in major shopping districts earlier this year went too far. As a result, not only mainland people, but Chinese from Southeast Asia have also steered clear of Hong Kong for fear of being targeted on the streets," Yiu said.

He said the strong Hong Kong dollar has also played a part in deterring tourists. "It has become less smart of visitors to spend their money here as the euro and Japanese yen have both depreciated."

Leung said local tour guilds have been hardest hit by the dwindling number of visitors. "The protesters are hurting the livelihood of many Hong Kong families. I hope they will stop damaging the reputation of Hong Kong any further."

emmadai@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 04/30/2015 page8)