Hong Kong retail sales weaken again as tourism plunges

Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s retail sales posted another double-digit decline in November as visitor arrivals to the financial centre plunged.

Retail sales by value retreated 23.6 per cent in the month from a year earlier, slightly better than the economists’ consensus forecast and extending the run of declines to ten months. By volume, sales contracted 25.4 per cent, according to a government release.

Retailers large and small are among those suffering the most amid persistent protests in the city since June. Consumption data continued to weaken in November as a perceived period of calm following a landslide election victory for pro-democracy local candidates came at the end of the month.

The figures also serve as an ominous lead in to the critical December holiday period, seen by many shopkeepers as a make or break shopping and spending season.

Arrivals from Mainland China, which account for the vast majority of all visitors to Hong Kong each month, plummeted a record 58 per cent in November to extend the low set in October. Overall visitor numbers fell below 3 million for the first time since February 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the Hong Kong Tourism Board.