‘It’s very quiet’: Hong Kong restaurants dealt double blow by New Year’s Eve weak tourist influx, trend of residents spending across border

Hong Kong restaurants have been dealt a double blow by a weak tourist influx and growing trend of residents spending across the border, with an industry leader saying business on New Year’s Eve dropped by 10 per cent.

Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, on Tuesday said the catering industry recorded HK$380 million (US$48.7 million) in revenue on Sunday, compared with the HK$420 million registered on New Year’s Eve the year before.

“The 480,000 gathered on either side of Victoria Harbour [for the New Year countdown] were clearly helpful to restaurants in those areas,” Wong told the Post. “In particular, hotel buffets or restaurants with a view for the fireworks, such as those at iSquare [in Tsim Sha Tsui], benefited from this.”

But he said the boost in business was very localised and did not trickle down to other areas that were further away from the fireworks, stressing restaurants overall still did better than on Christmas Eve.

“We had about HK$350 million in revenue on Christmas Eve,” he said. “The figure is a result of a lot of Hongkongers spending their holidays across the border or going abroad over the Christmas period.

“They are now gradually coming back now that the holidays are over.”