In 2025, Hong Kong finally felt lively again. At weekends the streets were crowded, and the MTR was packed after concerts and mega-events. The headline figures looked strong too: In the first three quarters, there were about 36 million visitor arrivals, roughly 12 per cent more than a year earlier. Yet many shopkeepers reported weak sales. August retail sales rose about 3.8 per cent year on year to around HK$30.3 billion, but January–August was still about 1.9 per cent lower than the same period in 2024. Put simply, people returned faster than spending.
One big reason is that local habits changed. With convenient cross-border transport, residents now go to the mainland for haircuts, hotpot and household items. Immigration data recorded roughly 93 million Hong Kong-resident trips into the mainland in 2024, about 48 per cent more than in 2023, and the same routine clearly continued in 2025. Every purchase made across the border is one not made in our local shopping streets, and the loss is sharpest for price-sensitive retailers.
Tourist numbers recovered, but the visitor profile stayed skewed towards day-trippers. Mega-events filled arenas and created short bursts of demand for transport and meals, but without longer stays the weekday streets remained quiet. This helps explain why high-ticket categories such as jewellery and watches stayed weak even when the streets looked busy. It is not only about how many visitors arrive; it is also about how long they stay and where they spend.
Another change is where people make their purchases. During the pandemic many people got used to buying online, and the habit stuck. By August 2025, online retail made up about 8.4 per cent of total sales and was growing faster than physical shops through the middle of the year. Sometimes orders are fulfilled locally; sometimes they arrive from across the border. If a shop counts only on in-store custom, the streets may be crowded but in-store sales will remain muted.
These trends sit on top of a cautious mood at home. Even after property cooling measures were removed in 2024, home prices mostly stabilised rather than jumped, so families stayed careful with big purchases. At the same time, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hovered near 3.7 per cent for much of 2025. That is comfortably low, but when living costs are high it does not automatically lead to strong spending in shops. None of these facts is dramatic on its own. Together, they show why 2025 felt more like a reset than a boom.
What should Hong Kong do next? The goal should be clear: Aim for higher per-visitor spend rather than bigger crowds. This sounds simple, but it points to practical steps we can try now. Design events and promotions that gently push visitors to stay longer and explore more neighbourhoods. Multi-day festivals across a whole weekend, sports tournaments with fan zones on both sides of the harbour, and convention packages that add museum passes or district dining credits all give people a reason to book one more night. The aim is not just to fill a stadium on Saturday; it is to fill cafés on Friday evening and small shops on Sunday morning, so more districts share the benefits.
Next, compete fairly with northbound weekends. If the mainland is the reference price on Saturdays, make staying local feel like a smart choice at those exact hours. Useful bundles could include discounted MTR or ferry with museum entry, district night markets backed by reliable late-night transport, and price-matched set menus co-funded by landlords and tenants. These are not flashy ideas, but they match how families plan — Convenience and value.
Small shops also need help to sell where customers already are — online and in-store. A simple digital starter kit could give local small businesses ready-made web templates, easy steps for taking payments and handling returns, and small grants for clear photos and product descriptions. This would help them list on major platforms without getting lost, offer same-day click-and-collect, and for suitable items, next-day delivery to the mainland. If Hong Kong sellers win back even a small share of cross-border spending online, sales will be steadier between event weekends, and our streets will feel livelier and more stable.
Costs matter too. Rather than subsidising everyone, support should go to street-level shops that face the toughest competition. Practical help could include short-term licences for pop-up shops to test new ideas, business rates relief for small ground-floor businesses, and shared small warehouses in older industrial buildings to cut delivery costs. These simple steps help keep our high streets varied, and that variety encourages tourists to explore another street to shop nearby, even on a rainy Sunday.
We should also be open with the numbers. After each flagship event, organisers should publish simple facts the public can check e.g. the average length of stay, spend per visitor, and which retail categories benefited most. A monthly dashboard that shows visitor mix, online-sales share, mall vacancy by district and weekend cross-harbour flows would turn arguments into learning and actions. The city can thus invest more in what works and stops backing what doesn’t.
Judged fairly, 2025 showed that crowds returned faster than sales. This isn’t a crisis; it’s the new normal. If 2026 focuses on higher spend per visitor, helps local businesses sell where people shop, competes smartly during the key weekend hours, and publishes clear, useful metrics, shop takings should start to catch up with the crowds.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Ng Cheuk Wing
News Commentary Competition – The Champion of Junior Form
Munsang College