A stronger Hong Kong dollar is said to be the main driving force behind the holiday exodus, with an up to 80 percent year-on-year plunge in sales for some retailers during the traditional Yuletide shopping season. Bobby Yip / Reuters

City's Yuletide sales tumble as residents fuel gloom by flying out for Christmas

Appeals by hard-pressed Hong Kong retailers for local residents to stay in the city to give a lift to the faltering economy fell on deaf ears as swarms of residents ventured abroad for the just-ended Christmas holidays.

A stronger Hong Kong dollar is said to be the main driving force behind the holiday exodus, with an up to 80 percent year-on-year plunge in sales for some retailers during the traditional Yuletide shopping season.

Hong Kong International Airport laid out a total of 135 extra flights between Dec 19 and 25 for Christmas travelers, most of whom were local residents, who contributed to a 13-percent year-on-year growth in travel last month.

According to the Airport Authority, Taipei, Osaka and Sapporo emerged as the most popular regional destinations during the peak travel season - with 30, 29 and 28 additional flights by airlines, respectively, to the three cities to cope with the surge in demand.

Figures from the Immigration Department showed 485,802 departures from Hong Kong on Dec 26 (Boxing Day) alone, representing a year-on-year growth of 15.6 percent. For Dec 25 and 26, there were a total of 1.05 million departures, more than half of which came from local residents.

Lam Chi-ting, general secretary of the Federation of Hong Trade Unions in Tourism, warned that the outgoing travel momentum is likely to continue for the upcoming Spring Festival break in February, casting further gloom on the local retail and catering industries.

He said some local retailers had cried for Hong Kong shoppers to stay in town to support the city's depressed retail sector, noting that subdued local consumption power is actually the main culprit in the Christmas shopping retreat.

"With a dull local stock market and no Santa Claus rally showing up at year-end, coupled with an economic downturn weakening consumer sentiment, Hong Kong people are quite cautious about spending in the city over Christmas," Lam said.

"For local retailers, it seems there's nothing that can help, but to bear the crunch at the moment."

According to the Hong Kong Commerce and Industry Association, this year's Yuletide season sales saw a year-on-year tumble of between 70 and 80 percent among its member retailers.

The steep fall, on the heels of a 20- to 30-percent year-on-year drop in the number of mainland tour groups to the SAR over Christmas, was not only seen in the high-end products segment, but also for low-end products.

In Lam's words, there's no end in sight to the gloom.

Hong Kong retailers, especially those in clothing and footwear, and luxury product sectors, can also expect a grimmer picture for the approaching New Year and Spring Festival holidays, due to the abnormally warm weather and consumers tightening their wallets.

sophia@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/29/2015 page8)