Business and Finance

Fewer Mainlanders visit Hong Kong during May 1 holiday

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 10:59 AM
a_lot_less.jpg
In a recent Danwei TV episode about Mainland tourists in Hong Kong, a photographer with an instant print stall on Kowloon's waterfront promenade told us that there were fewer Mainland tourists in Hong Kong this year. We were inclined to attribute his comments on the fact that Mainland tourists are more and more likely to have digital cameras, and not need the services of street-side photographers.

However, the Economist's City Guide to Hong Kong had this to say:


While cosmopolitan Hong Kongers tend to see themselves as a cut above their mainland compatriots, they are happy to milk mainlanders for their tourist dollars. But there was a 20% drop in visitors during the week-long May Day holiday, a peak-time for tourism. A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Tourist Guides Association told the South China Morning Post that the number of guides employed during the May Day holiday had halved, and their overall earnings were down by 70-80%.

Many say this drop in tourists is caused by the behaviour of unscrupulous tour operators...

...At the same time, prices for hotels commonly used by mainlanders have risen between 20% and 40% in the last year.

twitterchiclet.pngtweet facebook.pngfacebook Deliciousbookmark hhrHaoHao diggdigg

<< Yo ayi: get to the back of the bus! | IKEA fatigue hits Beijing >>
There are currently 3 Comments for Fewer Mainlanders visit Hong Kong during May 1 holiday.

Comments on Fewer Mainlanders visit Hong Kong during May 1 holiday

Is that a storm brewing in the background or is that the pollution from Guangzhou?

Posted by: Gordon | May 16, 2006 2:16 PM

Rain clouds

Posted by: Jeremy | May 16, 2006 4:04 PM

I took the gf's parents there in the Chinese New Year and we were urged by all and sundry to book everything well in advance, and that prices would shoot up due to the influx of tourists.

Not true, hotels were easy to find, and got the same rates as I always do. Ditto Macau.

Dali in Lijiang province on May Day, however, was over-run with tourists. Its seems affordable inland options are still attracting the big crowds.

And of course, Disneyland is emerging as a small lump of culturally inappropriate crap that savvy mainland seven year olds just think is very uncool. A mouse? That I can't shoot interactively online? Bo---ring! Ayi! Bring me my playstation, NOW!

Posted by: Hummer | May 16, 2006 4:54 PM
Recent Comments
Roland Soo on A new literary magazine features new writing from Zhou Zuoren
Henry on The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on Big in China
Michael on Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Joe on What the citizens know: oil spills, environmental disasters
Xujun on 2013: The Fat Years -- Interview with Chan Koonchung
Brandon K. on Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
Anon on Chinese website goes after U.S. Amb. Huntsman for "cheerleading" protests
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
+ 1978-1988
+ 1988-1998
+ 1998-2008
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
laomo2010x80.jpg
+ 2010 Model Workers
From 2008
+ English-language blogs about China
+ Chinese blogs, aggregators, and forums
Books on China
The_Eurasian_Face_cover.jpg
The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
more...
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas.
+ Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet.
+ David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
more...
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30
twitterchiclet.png Danwei's Twitter feed