Tourist numbers plunge as Hong Kong strife drags on
The summer boom for Hong Kong’s tourism industry has turned into a chilly winter of unemployment and economic hardship.
Average earnings for tourism workers plunged by 74 per cent in June and July, while the number of tours in the city also fell 74 per cent on average during the same period year on year, according to a survey released this week.
“The impact is even more severe than the 2003 Sars outbreak, because at least the whole of society was united in combating the public health crisis back then. With the recent protests, society is riven with divisions and we really don’t see an end in sight,” says Paul Lau Chun-yuen, president of the Hong Kong Tour Escorts General Union.
Chief executive Carrie Lam last week warned of a looming economic slump if the crisis persisted, saying it could be “worse than those caused by Sars or past economic storms”.
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 299 people in Hong Kong and resulted in an economic slump, with visitor arrivals from January to May 2003 dropping 17.5 per cent over the same period the previous year.
Tourism is one of Hong Kong’s four pillar industries, employing more than 270,000 people, and contributed 4.5 per cent of GDP to the city’s economy in 2017.
Last week commerce chief Edward Yau Tang-wah said the drop in tourist arrivals had accelerated from a 1.5 per cent year-on-year decrease in mid-July to 26 per cent by the end of the month. By early this month the drop was 31 per cent, he said.
The survey of 1012 industry workers from August 1 to 10 was conducted by four labour groups.
Lam Chun-sing, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, said the results were worrying. “There are immediate cash flow problems, with some of our members having to borrow money to feed their family,” he said. “Many are the main breadwinners of the family and have to support elderly parents and young children.”