Hong Kong looks to win back big-spending tourists

HONG KONG – The sisters from south-western China arrived in Hong Kong on a recent holiday, aiming to see as much as they could – in less than 12 hours.

Carrying only a small bag each, bank worker Hu Di, 30, and student Hu Ke, 20, sampled beef noodles in the Central business district, took turns posing for sunset photos at a waterfront promenade, then captured the city’s illuminated skyline after dark.

Buying only medicinal oils and retro comics as souvenirs, they spent less than US$150 (S$193) in the day and went back across the border to stay the night.

They are part of a wildly popular trend among Chinese who call themselves “special forces tourists”: independent travellers who get in and out of the city as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Chinese travellers make up more than three-quarters of all tourists in the financial hub. But while they were once big spenders in Hong Kong – buying luxury watches, handbags and designer clothes – they now spend less time and money. That is a challenge to the city’s efforts to revive a travel economy hurt by years of anti-government protests, pandemic restrictions and concerns in the West over its tightening of freedoms through a national security crackdown.

Hong Kong, which once billed itself as Asia’s World City, is now seeking to

brand itself as the region’s events capital

, emphasising concerts and trade shows over shopping, to give travellers reasons to return and to spend more.

In 2025, it unveiled a US$4 billion sports park at the site of the city’s former airport, Kai Tak. Its centrepiece is a purple-hued stadium with air-conditioning under each of its 50,000 seats. It was almost at capacity during

an annual Rugby Sevens tournament in March

.

Featuring teams from around the world, the tournament drew overseas visitors like Ms Salome Bale, 49, a pharmacy worker from New Zealand. The new stadium left her speechless, she said, adding that the state-of-the-art facilities and the thrumming atmosphere made the games the experience of a lifetime.

The next month, kaleidoscopic visual effects were projected on its retractable roof during four sold-out nights of

concerts by British rock band Coldplay

. More events featured local and regional stars.

Some events are backed by a Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund the government started in 2023, pledging up to US$1.9 million in subsidies for approved events. The government is also supporting several high-profile soccer games, including a recent exhibition match involving English team Manchester United.

“You miss us, you come back. And then when you come, you like it again, you become one of our old friends,” said the city’s secretary for culture, sports and tourism, Ms Rosanna Law.

Tourism spending has been inching up since the pandemic, making up 2.6 per cent of Hong Kong’s economic output in 2023, the most recent data available. But that is still far from the government’s target of 5 per cent, which would be a little higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Industry experts say the challenge for Hong Kong is distinguishing itself from other Asian cities like Singapore and Bangkok, which have for years offered incentives to attract A-list stars, business conferences and sports tournaments.

“Their strategy is very similar. That is a big problem for Hong Kong,” said Mr Gary Bowerman, who heads a travel and tourism research firm called Check-in Asia.

Singapore has invested heavily to host marquee events such as

an annual Formula One race

and in exclusive deals with undisclosed price tags for huge stars like American artiste Taylor Swift.

While such events help draw tourists who otherwise would not have visited, governments should not become too reliant on them, said Professor Donald Low, a senior lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Institute for Public Policy.

“Even for Singapore, you don’t get somebody like Taylor Swift every year,” he said. “And even if you do, how many days of the year is it?”

Hong Kong has also had to weather blows to its international reputation, with the United States and other Western nations warning its travellers of potential risks after Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 that broadly criminalised political dissent.

The trade war between the US and China has added to uncertainties.

There were fewer visitors to Hong Kong from almost every part of the world in 2024 compared with 2018, according to the latest government data. Mr Stuart Bailey, chair of the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Industry Association, said many businesspeople from Europe and the US whom he had spoken to had negative impressions about the city.

“It’s a good strategy, trying to put Hong Kong on the map to get people to come here,” he said. “I think it is the right thing because there’s a lot of misunderstanding.”

Ms Law defended Hong Kong’s openness. “As long as you are law-abiding, as long as you are a genuine, proper tourist, you’ll be having a good time in Hong Kong,” she said.

The city is courting higher-spending visitors from regions like South-east Asia and the Middle East. Whereas the city’s allure was once as a Westernised city on the tip of China, it is now embracing its closer relationship to nearby Chinese cities.

Ms Law added that Hong Kong would keep working with Chinese authorities to promote travel to the city as part of regional tours that include cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Drawing more tourists is increasingly important, as many Hong Kong residents now flock to China on weekends and holidays for cheaper entertainment. (Over China’s five-day Golden Week holiday in early May, around 1.1 million tourists arrived in Hong Kong, but more than 1.68 million Hong Kong residents left the city.)

Given that exodus, “it’s important to know that we are building a relationship with the people who are coming in”, said Mr Michael Denmark, owner of the company that operates a giant Ferris wheel on the waterfront. About 85 per cent of the attraction’s 2.5 million visitors over the past 12 months came from China, he added.

Mr Denmark, testing Chinese appetite for spending on more costly attractions, is co-producing a month-long show by Cirque du Soleil. Ticket prices, from about US$60 to US$250, are significantly higher than the sponsor-subsidised US$2.50 fare to ride the Ferris wheel.

He is partnering Chinese social media and travel companies, and has dedicated marketing teams targeting different audiences, including travellers from China.

Corporate sponsors “all have very much their eyes wide open and their arms open to embrace everybody from the Greater Bay Area and beyond in China”, he added. NYTIMES