Tourist turnoff as fourfold rise in low-end hotel rates slammed

Mainland tour groups could be deterred by high hotel rates in Hong Kong during the May 1 Golden Week, a travel insider says after some rates for low-end establishments rose fourfold to HK$2,000 a night.

Sara Leung Fong-yuen, who chairs the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Employees General Union, slammed "unacceptable" hikes and said visitors would be driven to instead spend their holiday at home.

She said prices for five-star and luxurious hotels did not rise by such percentages.

"The original price could have been over HK$2,000 and now it's HK$4,000 to HK$5,000, which means an increase of around 70 to 80 percent," she said. "It's still within an acceptable range.

"But I've checked and some [low-end] hotels went from HK$500 to more than HK$2,000."

So tourists would arrange one-day trips to Hong Kong and spend the night in hotels in Shenzhen or Zhuhai, Leung said, as the reopened borders mean it is not difficult to travel back to the mainland.

Leung also said her agency has seen customers delaying their Golden Week trips because of pricey hotels. They included student tours for schools, with organizers opting to visit Hong Kong another time.

"For student tours they expect daily room rates to be HK$500 to HK$600," she said. "Even HK$700 they'd find ok. But it's unacceptable if they go beyond HK$2,000."

Leung said student tour groups usually stay in cheaper hotels in Yau Tsim Mong, Tai Kok Tsui, Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi or Wan Chai, which usually charge HK$600 to HK$700 a night.

"But they're asking for HK$2,000 or even HK$2,600 and HK$2,700 now," leung said.

"We'll need to wait until after the Golden Week to know how many people were deterred from spending nights in Hong Kong."

Meanwhile, Travel Industry Council executive director Fanny Yeung said it takes time for Hong Kong to return to pre-Covid flight capacities, and the industry cannot expect tourist numbers to bounce back to 2019 levels. She said the 600,000 tourists expected during Golden Week is 60 percent of prepandemic levels.

"I understand travel industry workers are unhappy with the number, but there's nothing we can do because of the limited service capacities," she said.

"Even neighboring countries that reopened borders earlier than us have yet to return to prepandemic tourist numbers. We need to hang in for some time."

Yeung also said the sector's leaders have met with authorities twice to prepare for the influx of Golden Week tourists.

"We expect 80 percent of mainland visitors to be individual tourists, while the number of group tours may be even less than during some weekends."

And she does not think Hong Kong streets will be overcrowded by mainland tourists, though land border crossing points will see heavy two-way traffic.

jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com