We did not expect to see more outbound travellers than inbound visitors after Hong Kong reopened its borders last year. Over three days during the Easter holiday this year, for example, about 2 million residents left the city while visitor arrivals reached only 1.2 million. This net outflow of 800,000 people was a blow to the city’s retailers and restaurants who had hoped to cash in on the holiday bonanza.
If this trend persists, it will hurt Hong Kong’s economic recovery. Tourism Board numbers show that visitor arrivals last year were 31 million fewer than in 2018 – the drop in same-day arrivals from the mainland made up over half of this decline.