‘Yellow’ Hong Kong shops slammed by Covid-19 hope protester campaign will help fill gap left by missing mainlanders
- While queues offer anecdotal evidence of success, one lawmaker said it would not help much given Hongkongers’ diminished spending power
- The five-day ‘golden week’ typically sees a massive influx of mainland tourists, something pandemic safety measures have now made impossible
The hoped-for spending spree, a bid to provide relief to so-called yellow businesses battered by the Covid-19 downturn, began on Thursday following the launch of an online campaign dubbed “Hongkonger’s 5.1 Golden Week” by organisers.
A total of 2,305 restaurants, retailers, leather crafters, beauty shops and other businesses were taking part by slashing prices to attract customers, according to campaign spokesman Sum Chai.
“We haven’t contacted the participants, so we don’t have an actual idea of how their businesses are doing these past two days. But we’ve seen an increasing number of people in the streets, with some queuing up outside the ‘yellow’ shops. We feel that the feedback so far is quite good,” he said.
The term “yellow” refers to the so-called yellow economic circle, supporters of which advocate spending money in stores that publicly support the protests that erupted last June, and shunning those that do not. Stores that back the establishment and police force are deemed “blue”.
Some companies taking part have gone so far as to advertise special discounts for customers who raise five fingers on a hand, and one finger on the other, symbolising the protest slogan “five demands, not one less”.
