Mixed reactions over Easter holiday travel rush

There have been mixed reactions from the catering and tourism sectors over business operations during the Easter holidays, when Hong Kong saw a huge number of people heading out. Figures from the Immigration Department showed departures of about 1.5 million Hong Kong residents between Friday and Sunday. On an RTHK programme on Monday, the head of the Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, Simon Wong, said restaurants suffered a major fall in sales over Easter - with evening business down by up to 40 percent. He also said the decline was particularly severe for high-end restaurants. “For the some one million people who have left Hong Kong during Easter, they have higher spending power. For the other six million people who remain in Hong Kong, I’m not saying that they don't consume, but it seems that their spending power has really weakened a lot,” he said. Wong noted that while Macau faced similar challenges of locals heading outside the enclave during holidays, its government has been doing a better job in attracting mainland tourists. He said Hong Kong can learn from Macau's example and develop more attractive tourism packages, like offering concert tickets to diners. On the same programme, a tourism representative said the number of people who had booked tours during the Easter holidays had doubled compared to last Easter. Steve Huen, executive director at EGL Tours, said bookings for Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe had increased. However, he noted the most significant increase was for mainland China tours, with bookings up by 300 percent overall. “This Easter we saw many three-to four-day tours to the Greater Bay Area. This is thanks to the high-speed rail. The high-speed rail has two advantages: it's convenient, and it has good capacity. Plus, the price won't rise during the peak season - it's the same all year round. We also saw a surge in demand for long-haul flights. Whether it's to Wuhan, Chongqing, taking a cruise, or to Sichuan, Yunnan, Beijing, etc. There are more tours on offer as well," he said. Huen also noted that flights were cheaper compared with last year, particularly those to Southeast Asia, which saw prices drop by 30 to 40 percent.