Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Friday, Jun 02, 2023

‘No boost for Hong Kong catering, retail sectors’ after full border reopening

‘No boost for Hong Kong catering, retail sectors’ after full border reopening

Catering industry leader expresses hope business can return to pre-pandemic levels or even surpass it ‘as time goes by’. Pharmacy business group head says he expects business uptick of 20 per cent from first stage of border reopening, despite no mainland shoppers in sight.

Hong Kong’s catering and retail sectors did not experience any immediate boost in business as the city fully reopened its borders with mainland China on Monday, industry leaders and operators said, while expressing hope of an improvement in coming months.

Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said the short-term prospects for the city’s dining scene were uncertain, but he remained optimistic.

“I’m confident that business can be back to pre-pandemic levels, or even better, as time goes, especially during the National Day holiday in October,” said Wong, who also chairs restaurant chain LP Group.

Retail hotspots popular with mainland tourists before the pandemic remained sparse on Monday, with Post reporters observing no queues outside luxury stores along Tsim Sha Tsui’s Canton Road in the afternoon.

Pang Kin-ng, a 19-year-old university student from Guangdong province’s Dongguan, and his girlfriend were among the few cross-border shoppers out on the streets. He said he had already spent up to HK$6,000 (US$764) on clothes and accessories but was unsure how much more he would buy while in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy vice-chairman Cheung Tak-wing said there was no noticeable increase in mainland shoppers, but he expected business would increase by about 20 per cent compared with the first phase of the border reopening on January 8.

“Most of them have replenished stock before some control points reopened on January 8, but sales were not as ideal as expected, so most of the pharmacies are observing the situation before stocking up again as they still have inventories,” he said.

Among the few mainland shoppers stocking up on daily necessities and medicine was Ang Shun-ting, 42, a businessman from Anhui province. He said he used to visit Hong Kong four times a year and had travelled by high-speed rail for a four-day trip to buy goods and do some sightseeing.

In Sheung Shui, a popular shopping destination for day trippers from across the border before the pandemic, the full border reopening did not spark an immediate boost in business.

Tony Lee, the manager of a cosmetics shop, said he had seen little improvement in sales since the city began reopening checkpoints in early January.

“Reopening the border won’t bring back the tourists all at once as others had hoped,” he said.

However, Lee said one of his competitors had managed to stay afloat by allowing customers to place orders through Chinese messaging app WeChat.

Daify Yeung, the owner of Hon Mei Cosmetic, said his shop in Sheung Shui had not had any customers from the mainland on Monday.

“I think by March and April we will see a 20 per cent recovery [of pre-pandemic levels],” he said, but added physical stores were unlikely to return to their business heydays of before 2020.

Some members of the city’s catering sector said they had experienced little to no increase in the number of diners from across the border.

At Tsim Sha Tsui’s Waso Cafe, which is popular among mainland visitors, an employee surnamed Lin said she had not seen a big increase in cross-border customers so far.

“But with more tourists in the future, we think we should have more mainland customers,” she said.

A shopper at a pharmacy in Sheung Shui.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Ma Sau-ying, general manager at Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant, which has branches in both Mong Kong and Causeway Bay, said business had increased by around 20 per cent since early last month.

“Local customers are still the majority and there are some mainland travellers too. We hope our business will further surge when more tourists visit Hong Kong,” Ma said.

Monday’s full reopening also prompted some local tour groups to travel north via the Lo Wu checkpoint, the busiest crossing in pre-pandemic times.

Ng Fung-ying, chairwoman of a Cantonese opera fan group, said she had organised a three-day tour for 20 people to watch a performance in Dongguan.

“We can’t wait for the trip. We haven’t watched a show for more than three years,” she said. “We will also travel around and enjoy a stay at a luxury hotel during the trip.”

The number of travellers using Lo Wu began to rise steadily during the afternoon, with some of those arriving in Shenzhen telling the Post they were greeted by illegal taxi drivers looking for business.

The Luohu Commercial City mall, a pre-Covid retail hotspot for Hongkongers in Shenzhen, was also lit up. More than half of the stores were open there, despite the small number of customers.

Tailor shop owner Zhang Fei, 34, said he had kept business going throughout the pandemic by using social media to promote his wares to a pool of local customers.

“I am quite hopeful that as the border reopens, more people will visit the mall and see us,” he said. “But it will take some time to return to pre-Covid levels.”
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
Close
0:00
0:00
Joe Biden falls at the Air Force Graduation
America's Got Talent…
Elon Musk has been showered with praise by the Chinese public during his trip to China
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
Elon Musk Meets Chinese Finance Minister in Beijing
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Chinese fighter jet buzzes U.S. Air Force spy plane over South China Sea
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Ed Davey: It is possible for a woman to have a penis
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
King Charles III being crowned.
Newly released video of Donald Trump’s rape trial deposition:
Video: Ukraine MP Punches Russian Representative At Global Meet
El Paso mayor has declared a state of emergency
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in an attempt to kill Putin
Dutch court orders man who fathered 550 kids to stop donating sperm
Kim Kardashian Lookalike Christina Ashten Dies Of Cardiac Arrest, Hours After Plastic Surgery
Samsung has banned employees from using generative AI services such as ChatGPT
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
×