Retail sales by value rose 40.9 percent from a year ago, the Census and Statistics Department said Thursday. That was nearly in line with the median estimate of a 41.1 percent jump in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Sales by value gained 31.3 percent in February, already the fastest pace in more than a decade. March’s figures surpassed that increase, marking the quickest jump dating back to the beginning of equivalent records in the early 2000s.

By volume, sales grew 39.4 percent from a year prior, slightly higher than expectations.

The jump in sales growth can be at least partially explained by base effects: The figures compare to a particularly dire March in 2022, when the city was in the midst of a deadly Covid wave. Sales by volume plunged 13.8 percent year-on-year that month.

The further recovery of the tourism industry, as well as private consumption, “should continue to benefit the retail sector,” a government spokesperson said in a release accompanying the data. He added that a new round of consumption vouchers should “render further support.”

The retail data covers consumer spending on goods but not services such as catering, medical care and entertainment. Those services account for over 50 percent of the total consumer spending.

Hong Kong’s economy has waged a comeback after emerging from a recession in the first quarter of 2023 — its first three-month period of growth in more than a year. Gross domestic product expanded by 2.7 percent from a year prior, vastly exceeding expectations among economists.

An influx of tourists has boosted demand. Visitor arrivals surged to some 2.5 million in March, up 68 percent from February. That figure is expected to swell this month after the city received more than 625,000 visits from mainland Chinese travelers during the Labor Day holidays, local media reported, citing immigration data.