Annual holiday helps Hong Kong’s retail sector maintain strong run

Hong Kong’s retail sector continued its bull run for the eighth consecutive month, posting a 3.9 per cent increase in October, helped mainly by an annual week-long holiday.

Inbound tourism was also bolstered by the eight-day long “Golden Week” – a public holiday running from October 1 to 8 in mainland China – helping retail sectors across the board enjoy stronger sales compared with the same period last year.

For the first 10 months of this year, retail sales increased 1.2 per cent year on year.

The government credited positive consumer sentiment and revival in inbound tourism for the “solid growth” in retail sales in October.

However, without the holiday period, sales figures may not have been so favourable.

“Sales during China’s Golden Week surged almost 10 per cent among our member companies, although the performance during rest of October was not so impressive,” said Thomson Cheng Wai-hung, chairman of the Retail Management Association.