Despite Hong Kongers increasingly expressing their rejection of China’s heavy hand over the territory, Chinese travellers continue to come to the former British colony…
HONG KONG – Generally, Chinese travellers are prompt to cancel their trip as soon as tensions soar somewhere. Thailand recently experienced a decline of Chinese visitors as the Kingdom had to face political turbulences. Flaring tensions between Japan and China are also deterring Chinese holidaymakers to make the trip to their Eastern neighbour.
However, there is no sign of market weakness for Chinese travellers going to Hong Kong. Figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board HKTB points even to a strong growth from Mainland China since the start of the year. From January to May, total arrivals from Mainland China point to a plus of 17.6%, four points higher than the average growth for all nationalities. From January to May 2014, total arrivals to Hong Kong topped 24.04 million compared to 21.16 million for the same period of 2013. From this total, Mainland Chinese represented 76.66% of all arrivals. Even in April, following discourteous acts from some Hong Kong groups against Chinese mainlanders, the growth rate did not abate, jumping that month by double-digit figures.
Other markets are less resilient. In the first five months of 2014, arrivals from short-haul markets are “only up” by 2.8% while long-haul markets stagnated at -0.8%.
Why is Chinese tourism so resilient in the former British possession? Hong Kong continues to be the most accessible city for most Mainland Chinese. Authorisation to travel to Hong Hong is easy to obtain, they are plenty of flights not only linking Hong Kong but also neighbouring airports such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau or Zhuhai. Crossing the borders these days is relatively seamless. And finally Hong Kong retains its aura as a shopping paradise and the first step into a different world.
Enough then to convince Chinese to continue travelling to Hong Kong, even if they might increasingly be greeted by protests, demonstrations against Chinese leaders and see the old colonial Hong Kong flag being shown. Why is the British Hong Kong flag back in favour among locals? This is not only a resumption of colonial nostalgia. But burning or damaging Chinese flags are severely punished by law while showing the Hong Kong colonial flag is just… looking at a historical time!
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
