HK to see rebound in visits from mainland

Hong Kong is expected to see a massive rebound in the number of tour groups from the Chinese mainland during the eight-day Golden Week holidays starting this weekend, providing a welcome boost for the city’s retailers.

The Hong Kong Inbound Tour Operators Association, which represents 132 tour operators in the city, estimated that the number of tour groups visiting each day will jump as much as 40 percent from a year earlier, with most from the mainland.

“The growth is set to be significant as we pick up and rebound from the bottom,” Chairman Ricky Tse said.

Tse said the volatile situation in North Korea had prompted concern about travel to countries nearby, while less negative news in official mainland media about the political situation in Hong Kong, where protests in 2014 paralyzed parts of the city, had also helped boost tourism to the financial hub.

Hong Kong’s retail sales have sagged in the past two years due to a drop in the number of tourists, though they picked up in July as the number of inbound visitors rose.