Continued revival of inbound tourism and private consumption helped Hong Kong’s retail sales notch a 10th consecutive month of growth in September, though it was slower than in previous months, official data showed on Wednesday.
Sales increased 13 percent year-on-year to $4.06 billion in September, the city government said, but the growth was the slowest pace since January, when it was at 6.9 percent.
Retail sales rose by 13.7 percent in August and 16.7 percent in July.
“Continued improvement in household income and the government’s various support initiatives, including the Night Vibes Hong Kong Campaign, should also provide support,” a government spokesman said, adding further recovery of visitor arrivals should benefit the retail sector.
In volume terms, September retail sales increased 10.1 percent year-on-year. That compared with an 11 percent growth in August and a 14.2 percent rise in July.
For the first nine months, retail sales value rose 18.6 percent year-on-year while volume grew 16.5 percent.
Hong Kong’s economy grew 4.1 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, data showed on Tuesday, accelerating from the 1.5 percent expansion in the second quarter and the 2.9 percent in the first, but missing the 5.2 percent median forecast of economists polled by Reuters.
In August, the government revised up its economic growth forecast for 2023 to between 4.0 percent and 5.0 percent.
Visitor arrivals for September were 2.77 million, bringing the total for the first nine months of 2023 to 23.32 million, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board preliminary data. That compared with last year’s 66,037 and 249,699, respectively, when China was still in the grip of Covid restrictions.
The number of mainland Chinese visitors decreased to 2.16 million in September from 3.43 million in August, the data showed. That compared with 51,282 in September 2022.
Sales of jewellery, watches, clocks and valuable gifts, which before the pandemic were mostly bought by mainland tourists, rose 27.3 percent year-on-year in September after a 57.2 percent
jump in August, data showed.
Sales of clothing, footwear and accessories grew 36.4 percent on the year in September after a 37.4 percent increase in August.