Hong Kong malls report up to 50% more footfall over festive season so far

Hong Kong shopping centres have recorded footfall growth of up to 50 per cent, with a 15 per cent bump in business projected for the festive season, aided by a revived multiple-entry visa scheme for Shenzhen residents.

Alan Chan Chung-yee, chief operations officer at Miramar Group, told a radio programme on Tuesday foot traffic at the company’s shopping malls in Tsim Sha Tsui had increased by 50 per cent in the past two weeks.

“This year is much better. Especially on the shopping centre side where we have changed our tenant … installed many large-scale Christmas decorations and done a number of promotions involving key opinion leaders and key opinion consumers on the mainland,” he said.

“The footfall at our shopping malls has increased by 50 per cent, which is astonishing … For our tenants, I believe the increase in footfall can be converted to a minimum 15 per cent rise in consumption.”

The visa scheme, which enables Shenzhen residents to make an unlimited number of trips to Hong Kong within a year, was implemented this month as one of several measures rolled out by the central government to help stimulate the city’s economy.

First introduced in 2009, it was replaced by a “one-trip-per-week” arrangement in 2015 before being relaunched in its current form.