BIZCHINA / Biz Life
Shopping season
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-15 09:07
Zhang Xiaofu had a nice New Year holiday. The 27-year-old middle school
teacher from East China's Nanjing spent three days in Hong Kong and went
on a shopping spree that was unforgettable.
"Hong Kong is a city where I can buy good quality stuff at good prices,
especially during Christmas and New Year holidays," says Zhang. "This is
the time when all stores offer hefty discounts. The entire trip cost me
not less than 20,000 yuan, but to buy the same clothes, jewellery and
electronic products, I think I would have to spend much more if I were to
shop on the mainland."
"The retail service is also pretty good; and I really appreciate that all
sales assistants could manage to speak Putonghua even though, I
understand, they were having difficulties. Besides, they don't grumble
about taking renminbi notes," she says.
Come Christmas and New Year, and the Spring Festival, mainlanders get
smitten by the travel bug and like Zhang, many mainlanders are lured by
the myriad attractions of Hong Kong.
The increasing number of mainland tourists has also boosted Hong Kong's
retail sales and hotel business.
A huge number of mainland holidaymakers poured into the special
administrative region (SAR) to spend the first three days of the New Year.
"We recorded more arrivals from the mainland during the Christmas and New
Year holiday period this year. The total arrivals are 7 percent higher
than the same period last year," says Theresa Wong, spokeswoman for the
Hong Kong SAR government's Immigration Department.
Wong says Hong Kong received 3,631,295 visitors from the mainland during
the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
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