Mainland Chinese make only day trips to Hong Kong as city loses allure

“Hong Kong’s attractiveness has general weakened,” stated Dicky Yip Chi-wai, the president of the Hong Kong Tourism Practitioners’ Union. “It was once a procuring paradise, however now folks can purchase the identical issues on the mainland.”

After the Covid-19 pandemic, he noticed an increase in day journeys the place vacationers would arrive within the metropolis early within the morning and head again to the mainland that very same evening.

“They’d come and stroll across the metropolis as an alternative of actually spending cash right here,” he stated.

On mainland social media platforms Xiaohongshu, phrases akin to “Hong Kong in a Day” and “Vacationer Particular Forces ” have gone viral, with posts containing the previous amassing greater than 54 million views.

In style posts comprise detailed maps and itineraries, with customers swapping strategies on methods to see town’s key sights in underneath 24 hours whereas spending as little as 300 yuan (US$42). Strategies embrace saving on transport by taking the tram or consuming at native cha chaan teng.

At round 3pm in Central on Monday, Shenzhen resident Alice Zhang Xiaoqing was studying an commercial for an exhibition on the close by Tai Kwun heritage and humanities centre.

“It’s free!” the 22-year-old shouted, as she clutched a pal’s hand because the pair ran up the escalators. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Zhang, a current graduate who works in advertising and marketing, was visiting town for the primary time and had determined to easily stroll round to see “surroundings that was completely different from the mainland”, she stated.

However regardless that she had solely arrived at round 10am, she can be returning to Shenzhen simply 12 hours later, she added.

“One cause is as a result of the lodges are so costly right here,” she stated. “And I don’t suppose there’s a lot else to see to remain longer.”

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Close by, married couple Jenny Liu, 36, and Jeffrey Zhao, 33, have been busy exhibiting their three-year-old daughter and her grandparents across the metropolis for the primary time.

The household was visiting from Huizhou in neighbouring Guangdong province and had arrived that morning through Shenzhen. However they too stated they’d head again to the mainland later within the night and would solely spend the day strolling round relatively than procuring.

“The Hong Kong greenback trade charge is fairly costly, so it’s not a superb place to buy lately,” Liu, an engineering guide, stated. “If we wish to store, we are able to go to Hainan and purchase issues cheaper there.”

Hainan, an island province off the mainland’s southern coast dubbed “China’s Hawaii,” has managed to seize a lot of Hong Kong’s once-unique procuring attract.

Mainland residents are capable of spend as much as 100,000 yuan per 12 months on tax-free procuring on the island, in contrast with simply 5,000 yuan in Hong Kong per entry.

Simon Lee Siu-po, an honorary fellow on the Asia-Pacific Institute of Enterprise on the Chinese language College of Hong Kong, stated the mainland’s poor economic system had additionally performed a task in dissuading guests.

“[Mainland] China continues to be going through challenges, so vacationers are spending their cash correctly,” he stated. “They’d relatively take a day journey to Hong Kong relatively than keep for 2 or three days.”

Lee stated that handy journey choices such because the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus and MTR traces gave mainland guests some ways to pop out and in of town, whereas neighbouring Shenzhen provided a less expensive place to remain.

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A Publish verify of resort costs revealed {that a} deluxe king room on the five-star Ritz Carlton Hong Kong in West Kowloon value about HK$4,050 an evening. Simply throughout the border on the Ritz Carlton Shenzhen, the same room would value HK$1,210.

Lee added that whereas neighbouring Macau provided distinctive sights together with Portuguese delicacies, condensed historic areas and gleaming casinos, lots of Hong Kong’s allures have been available on the mainland for much less.

“Hong Kong is simply too costly,” he stated.