Hong Kong sees fall in mainland tours after spats

Mainland tourists have been steering clear of Hong Kong after the ever-simmering dispute between locals and mainlanders turned particularly sour this year. With numbers down, Taiwan seems to have benefited from Hong Kong's decline, appealing more than ever to mainland visitors. But the tiny islands still remain a massive draw for mainland residents, with millions flocking in every year.

Over the last Labor Day weekend holidays, a regular peak season for tourism, Taiwan saw a steep 33 percent rise on year, hitting nearly 32,000 visitors, while Hong Kong had the first fall in visitor numbers in nine years with a 1.6 percent decrease to 388,070 visitors.

A report by the Wall Street Journal attributed the decline to the recent conflicts between mainland tourists and Hong Kong residents. In late April, opinions clashed after a mainland tourist allowed her young child to urinate on a Hong Kong street while waiting in a long queue, prompting a confrontation between her and local bystanders.

Some Hong Kong locals staged angry protests over the incident, only the most recent in a series of clashes that have seen mainlanders castigated for everything from peeing on the subway to sloppy eating in public. A new round of online argument erupted, while Hongkonger's opinion of mainland "locusts," an insulting piece of local slang, is lower than ever. According to the HKU POP annual opinion poll, Hongkongers increasingly see their identity as principally local, not national.

Hurt feelings

Meanwhile, mainlanders have been feeling hurt that their compatriots could view them in such an unflattering light, and consequently bitter toward Hongkongers. A recent poll by the WSJ showed nearly 80 percent of its 1,065 mainland Chinese-language readers claim such events have discouraged them from visiting Hong Kong.

"My wife always wanted to visit Hong Kong. But after reading news about Hong Kongers rejecting mainland tourists this year, we've decided not to visit Hong Kong," a Sina Weibo user from Luohe, Henan Province said.

"The recent row could be one of the reasons the mainland tourists have become less likely to visit Hong Kong, as the reactions of Hong Kong locals may hurt Chinese visitors' feelings," said Liu Simin, a researcher at the Tourism Research Centre of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

The change in tourist numbers has nothing to do with mainland-Hong Kong conflicts, but is a result of increasing exchanges, both politically and economically, between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Yang Liqian, deputy secretary-general of the National Society of Taiwan Studies told the Global Times.

"With increasing number of flights and visitor quotas in recent years, it is natural to see such an increase," Yang noted.

She believes the exchanges may help to revitalize Taiwan's faltering economy.

The growth of Chinese mainland tourists in Taiwan in the first quarter of 2014 outpaced Hong Kong. Statistics released by Taiwan's Tourism Bureau shows that during January until March, the island saw a 36 percent jump of Chinese mainland tourists from the same period last year, which amounted to almost 1 million visitors. In the same quarter, Hong Kong saw a 18.8 percent rise, or 6.8 million overnight visitors from the Chinese mainland.

"I don't see a big difference in the number of tourists I hosted during the holiday" an experienced Taiwanese tour guide who refused to be named told the Global Times. He led a tour from Shanghai during the holiday, and said even the hot tourist spots like Ali Mountain and Sun Moon Lake are not that crowded.

"I hosted one mainland tour twice a month before 2008. Now I host two to three such tours every month," said the guide. "Tourism hasn't yet affected our daily life."

Taiwan started opening up to mainland tourists only in organized tour groups since 2008.

"There has been a slight increase of Taiwan tours in May because of cheaper prices. But the number of tours to Taiwan and Hong Kong are about the same as last year, and they are both very popular" a sales representative at the Beijing Youth Travel Service agency told the Global Times.

Normal slowdown

Hong Kong Tourism officials described the slowdown, a 1.6% drop, as "mild" compared to the gigantic number of visitors.

The habit of travelling has changed, as Chinese mainland tourists no longer visit Hong Kong only during the "golden week", but come at different times throughout the year, a spokesperson of the Hong Kong Tourism Board told the Global Times.

Analysts believe that many mainland tourists have been to Hong Kong for multiple times and have started to move on to other destinations, the Hong Kong-based Ming Pao newspaper reported.

The purposes are very different when Chinese mainland visitors travel to Taiwan and Hong Kong, Liu told the Global Times. Chinese mainland tourists seek to experience the culture and lifestyle in Taiwan, while shopping is the main goal when they are in Hong Kong.

Liu believes Chinese mainland tourists will still visit Hong Kong despite the conflicts, as long as the city still offers attractive prices.

"Hong Kong still has its edge as a free market with duty-free products, which allows cheaper prices than Taiwan," he added.

The number of Chinese mainland tours plunged drastically from 450 per day in April to 280 during the Labor Day holidays, Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, told the Global Times.

However, the numbers resumed quickly after the week as the number of such tours climbed back to more than 400 since May 5, Tung said.

A total of 34 million Chinese mainland tourists visited Hong Kong last year, which accounted for 72 percent of the city's total visitors, according to a report released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

2.87 million Chinese mainland tourists made up 36 percent of Taiwan's total arrivals in 2013, official data stated. The island hopes to attract 3.35 million mainland tourists in 2014.

Chinese mainland tourists need to improve their manners and behavior when they travel aboard, Yang said. "Who wouldn't feel offended when they see visitors spitting on the streets?"