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Hong Kong must raise standards and offer more, luxury forum agrees

Hong Kong's continued success as a high-end shopping mecca depends on raising standards and offering visitors something unique, experts say

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Illustration: Henry Wong

As the competition to capture the spending of China's tourists grows globally, Hong Kong should focus on elevating its service standards and offering one-of-a-kind experiences rather than just being a giant retail outlet, a panel of luxury experts said yesterday.

The consensus emerged from a gathering of luxury industry executives at the JW Marriott hotel to discuss how the city can retain its edge as a luxury- shopping mecca, in the fifth of a series of talks, "Redefining Hong Kong", organised by the South China Morning Post.

Hong Kong enjoys the world's highest per capita luxury goods consumption rate, thanks to the large numbers of mainland Chinese tourists who cross the border to shop.

Mainland Chinese buy 30 per cent of all luxury goods sold worldwide, according to research carried out by strategy consultants Bain.

They make a third of their luxury purchases in Hong Kong, another third at home and the rest elsewhere in the world.

The experts yesterday warned that Hong Kong could lose its lustre; already, tourists from some mainland cities, after visiting the city several times, are opting to shop in new destinations such as Europe and Australia. Of middle-class mainland Chinese consumers polled by KPMG for a survey released in January this year, 71 per cent had travelled abroad, up from 53 per cent in a similar survey in 2008.

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