Thousands of bargain hunters flooded into Hong Kong’s Victoria Park for big discounts on the last day of one of the city’s largest annual outdoor fairs, where vendors reported increased sales compared with 2021.

The 24-day, 56th annual Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo, organised by the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong, ended on Sunday after it attracted more than a million visitors and generated HK$1 billion (US$128 million) in sales.

Many of the 400 exhibitors in 860 booths at the Causeway Bay park enticed customers with hefty discounts on products such as food, home appliances, toys and health items.

Allen Shi Lop-tak, the association president, said on Sunday afternoon that business was so brisk that some booths had already run out of stock.

“This year’s expo performed the best in terms of people traffic and sales out of the past three years during the pandemic. The resumption of on-site food tasting was a game changer,” Shi said.

Eating and drinking were reinstated in outdoor areas at places of entertainment, event venues and sports premises after the government scrapped most pandemic-related curbs on December 22.

“More than 100 exhibitors quickly resumed food and drink tasting, which helped them promote their products and drive sales growth,” Shi said. “We also decided to extend the opening hours every day from Christmas to New Year’s Eve to further stimulate the flow of people and business.”

Among the last-minute bargain hunters was Christine Hung Cheuk-yee, who spent HK$6,800 on 28 cans of abalone, four bags of dry scallops, a bag of fish maw, a few bags of mushrooms and other foods and snacks.

Most of the booths were in the home stretch to further mark down their products. One booth provided a special abalone goody bag for HK$100 with five cans of abalone and three cups of turtle herbal jelly, attracting more than 300 shoppers to queue up at one stage.