Editorial | Hong Kong businesses must adapt to new tourism and spending trends

While multiple sectors benefited from ‘super golden week’, it’s clear visitors no longer just come for high-end dining or shopping

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Tourists visit Cheung Chau on the second day of the the golden week holiday on October 2. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 6:45am, 13 Oct 2025

The National Day holiday week is traditionally one of the most lucrative periods for businesses. Coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, the “super golden week” glittered more brightly, with some restaurants and retailers reportedly reaping bigger windfalls.

Reassuring as it seems, the economic outlook remains uncertain. Those who just sit back and wait for another seasonal bonanza risk being outpaced by rivals who proactively reach out to customers with better offers. It is important that different industries keep innovating and adapting to the new business landscape, which is being reshaped by changing tourism and spending behaviour.

Unlike the gloom and doom preceding the holiday last year, the sentiments this year are generally more upbeat. More than 1.4 million mainland passenger trips were made during the eight-day autumn break, up 15 per cent compared to the seven-day holiday last year.

While it shows that the city remains a popular travel spot for mainlanders, the figure is short of the government’s estimates of 1.5 million, as well as the pre-pandemic level of 1.52 million in 2018.

It is good that various industries still benefited. For instance, the restaurant and retail sectors said the influx had increased their business by 20 per cent, but visitors tend to opt for casual dining rather than high-end restaurants. Many Chinese restaurants and buffet establishments were fully booked on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is not bad considering many locals also headed north for entertainment during the holiday.

The arrivals also helped raise hotel bookings, with the industry recording occupancy rates of more than 80 per cent in the first three days. The rate stood at 90 per cent for establishments in popular areas, similar to last year’s performance. But about 40 per cent of the mainland arrivals were day trippers, which means the economic benefits may also be less.

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