Hong Kong’s tourism rebound needs new measures of success

Kun Tian is a senior lecturer in marketing and analytics at Kent Business School, UK, and a fellow at the Taihe Institute.When it comes to tourism, Hong Kong is recovering footfall faster than spending and officials need to realise that the two are not the same.The city’s economy grew by 5.9 per cent year on year in the first three months, its strongest quarterly performance in almost five years, according to the Census and Statistics Department’s advance estimate. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po pointed to a 17 per cent rise in first-quarter visitor numbers and 5.2 per cent increase in retail and catering spending as evidence of stronger momentum. During the “golden week” holiday, Hong Kong received 1.01 million mainland visitors, 10 per cent more than last year.That is progress. It is not a return of the old tourism economy.