Tour group numbers disappoint sector

Wallis Wang

The tourism business faces a "disappointing" National Day Golden Week holiday, with fewer than 1,000 tour groups expected to visit, says industry union leader Sara Leung Fong-yuen.

While the figure is a 10 percent rise from last year, it remains far below the 2,000 groups before the pandemic, when hotels were fully booked.

According to the latest estimation by the Travel Industry Authority, around 925 mainland tour groups comprising 36,000 travelers will visit Hong Kong.

Leung, chair of the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Employees General Union, said yesterday an average of 300 to 500 groups arrived per day during a golden week in the past, bringing the total number to as many as 2,000 altogether.

For next week's golden week, there are still hotel rooms available for reservation, which shows the situation is "not ideal," she said.

With more mainland cities being included in the individual visit scheme and convenient border-crossing arrangement, many tourists now opt for one-day visits, Leung said, adding it is difficult for travel agencies to operate tour groups.

She said drone shows may not be appealing to mainland visitors, given the larger-scale shows across the border.

"Wuhan will also hold a drone show soon of a much larger scale, so such activities which already exist in the mainland will not have a great impact," she said.

Leung appealed to the government to make a long-term plan for the sector and develop the city as a unique destination with the arrival of giant pandas.

The hotel sector expects a 10 to 20 percent drop during the golden week holiday.

"The government usually inquires about hotel bookings months or weeks before a holiday, but we wouldn't know until three days before the holiday as many customers would cancel their reservations at the last minute based on the weather forecast," Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners executive director Caspar Tsui Ying-wai said.

Tsui also said the hotels offered various packages and discounts based on activities celebrating National Day. He urged the government to inform the sector about its activities as early as possible so hotels can enhance promotions.

The celebrations in Hong Kong include a drone show on the night of September 30, with a record 2,099 drones flying over Victoria Harbour to form the national flag, pandas, phoenix, and the word "country."

The government also subsidized people to watch movies at half price on October 1. Many queued online or visited cinemas yesterday to buy tickets.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com