How does Hong Kong's tourism recover?

On May 2nd, according to the data released by the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government on the 2nd, nearly 600,000 mainland tourists visited Hong Kong during the just-concluded "May 1st" holiday in the Mainland, up by 22.4% compared with the same period of last year, and the tourism industry in Hong Kong recovered obviously.

Yao Sirong, a member of the Hong Kong Tourism Legislative Council, said that the "May Day" holiday in the Mainland is only three days, and there are not many choices for tourists to travel abroad. Hong Kong and Macao have a distance advantage, and the RMB exchange rate is strong, so it is more cost-effective for mainland tourists to travel to Hong Kong.

Song Haiyan, deputy dean of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said that the number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong during the May 1 holiday this year has greatly increased. In the future, Hong Kong's tourism and retail industry will grow moderately, but further measures are still needed to promote the development of the industry.

Song Haiyan said that the number of mainland tourists choosing individual tours has increased, and the younger generation has a more mature way of traveling. They need not only shopping, but also a variety of travel experiences. Hong Kong's tourism market can take the opportunity to provide diversified products according to demand.

A spokesman for Hong Kong Disneyland Resort said that the increase in the number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong during the May 1 ST period also led to an increase in the number of visitors to Disneyland. Disney keeps launching activities including "Disney Superstar Carnival" to attract more mainland tourists.

Yao Sirong said that in the future, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway and the Xiangyuanwei Port in Li Antang will be put into use one after another, which will make it more convenient for mainland tourists to come to Hong Kong and the number of tourists is expected to continue to increase. With the convenience of transportation in the future, more tourists will come to Hong Kong, especially those from the central region. There are few air routes and expensive air tickets in these areas, and tourists are more willing to choose high-speed rail to come to Hong Kong, and most of these tourists may be visiting Hong Kong for the first time, which has great consumption potential.

In view of the characteristics that mainland tourists like to use mobile payment, more and more retailers in Hong Kong are also launching mobile payment tools to facilitate mainland tourists' consumption. According to the mobile payment data released by Alipay for outbound travel during the May Day holiday, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan are the top three most popular consumption destinations for mainland tourists, and the number of Alipay users traveling to Hong Kong has nearly doubled compared with last May Day holiday.