Shopping in Hong Kong has become a bargain hunter's dream, said Han Kui, deputy general manager of the outbound tourism department of China Youth Travel Service.

With the HK dollar sliding against the yuan, shoppers from the mainland are being told they can get Chanel boots or Armani suits much cheaper than before, Han said.

Starting Jan. 1, residents from Wuhan, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou,Changchun and Hefei can visit Hong Kong without being part of a tour group,bringing the number of mainland cities with this privilege to 48.

Local agencies said the number of tourists to Hong Kong is expected to increase two to three percent over the same period last year.

Hong Kong Tourism Board statistics show that visitors from the mainland declined 2.5 percent last November compared with the same month in 2005.

But as the yuan continues to appreciate, more and more mainland travelers have begun booking Spring Festival holiday flights to Hong Kong. In Changchun, bookings for Hong Kong tour packages are up thirty percent since Christmas.

Analysts said some mainlanders might prefer Thail and or Vietnam which cost even less than Hong Kong.

The number of outbound visitors from the Chinese mainland reached 35 million in 2006, up 11 percent on the previous year, with Hong Kong topping the list of preferred destinations.

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