The wave of deep-pocketed mainland shoppers that normally hits Hong Kong for a holiday shopping spree may be more of a trickle than a flood, with popular shopping areas around the city, particularly Times Square less thronged than usual.
Staff at retail outlets in Times Square, a Mecca for mainland retail tourists, said business appeared to be down compared with the National Day holiday last year.
Customer numbers have dropped off across the board, according to Devon Au, a supervisor at luxury goods store Dunhill in Times Square. Au said purchasing power also appeared to be reduced.
Bobo Chow, a supervisor at Red Valentine, another luxury brand, said visitor numbers were down.
“Traffic is quite low and spending power is very low also compared [with last year]. Last year was very high and the traffic was very good,” Chow told SCMP.com, adding that the picture appeared to be the same across the spectrum, and not limited to luxury goods.
However, mainland visitors on Monday appeared upbeat.