Hong Kong registers drop in tourists from mainland

Hong Kong saw a nearly 5 percent drop in the number of visitors from the mainland during the May Day holiday, following recent frictions between the mainland tourists and Hong Kong residents.

The number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong during the first two days of the holiday stood at some 288,000, 4.5 percent lower than the figure for the same period in 2013, according to the Hong Kong immigration department.

Michael Wu, chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said that the decline is normal as the number of mainland tourists has risen rapidly in the past years.

Analysts believed that many mainland tourists have been to Hong Kong several times, which caused the decline, Hong Kong-based Mingpao reported.

The drop in the number of mainland tourists has impacted local retail sales, especially high-end jewelry and gold, said the newspaper.

During the May Day holiday in 2013, the sales of gold jewelry in Hong Kong surpassed HK$3 billion. According to some jewelry and gold retailers quoted by Mingpao, the sales this year were only half of past few years.

Some Hong Kong officials and businessmen attributed the decline to the conflicts between the mainland tourists and the Hong Kong residents.

A mainland mother clashed with locals after they protested against her decision to allow her baby to urinate in a Hong Kong street in late April. Five days later, 30 protesters laid props of fake excrement on the floor and squatted, mimicking the toddler pooping on the street.

In contrast to the drop in tourists to Hong Kong, Chinese mainland witnessed a crowded travel period during the holiday. Data released on Sunday by the China Railway Corporation showed 36.98 million railway trips were made from Wednesday to Saturday, 16.5 percent higher than the same period last year.