The coronavirus pandemic continues to have a devastating effect on the already struggling tourism sector in Hong Kong, latest industry figures show.
Total visitor arrivals in April fell almost 100 percent year on year amid border controls to combat the virus.
Only 4,125 tourists visited the city last month, Hong Kong Tourism Board data released on Friday shows. Average daily visitor arrivals fell to about 100.
During the first four months of the year, slightly fewer than 3.5 million travelers visited the city, in a virtual standstill of the local tourism industry
During the first four months of the year, slightly fewer than 3.5 million travelers visited the city, in a virtual standstill of the local tourism industry.
The bleak state of tourism business is not the only area of Hong Kong’s economy facing major problems.
The city posted its biggest-ever quarterly economic decline of 8.9 percent, compared with the same period a year earlier – in line with the government’s preliminary estimates, the Census and Statistics Department said on Friday.
The contraction in the first quarter marked the
third quarter in a row of declines on an annual basis. During the global
financial crisis in 2009 and the Asian financial turmoil in 1998, Hong Kong
posted quarterly declines of GDP of 7.8 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said on Thursday he’s not optimist about the city’s economic prospects.
“The second quarter will not be any better because the trend has been set and we are still suffering. At this moment, I don’t see much light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.
Last month, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po warned Hong Kong is heading for its worst-ever recession.
He revised down his full-year GDP forecast to a
contraction of somewhere between 4 and 7 percent - down from an initial
forecast in February ranging from a 1.5 percent contraction to only 0.5 percent
growth.
