Restaurants see 10pc drop in business on May 1 holiday
Catering sector representative Simon Wong on Saturday said restaurants saw 10 percent less business than usual this May 1 public holiday, which was also the first day of the mainland's Golden Week break.  Speaking to reporters after appearing on a radio programme, the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades president said this was partially due to 20,000 fewer mainland arrivals on that day, although the May 1 firework display had helped trade near Victoria Harbour. “We see that business in some areas in Hong Kong - like in Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, and along the harbour - because of the fireworks, recorded some increase," he said. "I did visit several districts in Hong Kong and saw that there were not too many people visiting shopping malls.” Wong added that reduced spending power among individual travellers and the bad weather during the week contributed to the lower sales. He also attributed the lower sales to many locals heading north. Meanwhile, a hotel group says the occupancy rate for its two hotels also dropped about six to seven percent when compared to last year. Alan Chan, the operations officer of Miramar Group, said the group had offered substantial price discounts to retain hotel guests, with prices per night decreasing by approximately 23 percent year-on-year. “For the hotel industry, if we need to drop prices by 23 percent to retain a certain occupancy rate, I think it’s not really ideal,” he said He said that this year, many mainland flights had resumed to other countries, and visa requirements had also been relaxed for mainlanders, giving them more travel options. Chan urged the government to liaise with mainland authorities to further expand the Individual Visit Scheme so more mainlanders could visit the SAR. The five-day mainland holiday will conclude on Sunday. According to the Immigration Department, arrivals on May 1 reached 460,000, with over 180,000 coming from the mainland.