I’ve been to Hong Kong many times over the years. If you’re involved in import and export it’s impossible to ignore or avoid.
The city or to be more precise, its banlieus, are one of the prettiest in Asia. Who can fail to be captivated by the harbour and the panoramic views as you circle and land?
An ex colleague and business partner whom I met on Sunday afternoon lives in a “village” where sea swimming is on call year round, the sea temperature never drops below 16c apparently. Envious? I am.
I have done many projects in Hong Kong since leaving big corporate. These include market entry work for a mixture of Japanese and Australian companies, pricing and trade spend control, capability development workshops as well as being a guest speaker at trade & industry seminars. This time was with a loyal and well entrenched client.
27 years post handover Hong Kong remains an important access point for the Greater China market. China accounts for a whopping 55% of its exports.
I had not been back since the pandemic’s curfews ceased. And I was not the only one. Visitor arrivals whilst rebuilding are still lagging.
This time I stayed 3 nights which is about the average. There is a labour shortage, I had to wait over an hour to check in at the hotel (not a budget brand by the way), one of the longest waits I’ve ever experienced.
(There was also an hour’s delay on departure from Hong Kong due to air traffic control issues and airport congestion)
There has clearly been a mix in the profile of visitors. Previously there were many more Westerners, today they are hard to spot. Countries like the UK, US and Australia have put Hong Kong on a watch list, especially those with dual citizenship.
Instead there has been an upsurge in cross border traffic. As a local one still needs an identity card and visa to relocate. The HK$ pegged to the US$ means the price differential between the SAR and the rest of China is substantial. On report put the gap at over 50%.
Retail sales remain subdued. In its latest economic report the HK Government noted
The value of total retail sales continued to decline notably in May (2024) from a year earlier, mainly affected by changes in the consumption patterns of visitors and residents, as well as the strength of the Hong Kong dollar
My business partner who joined me on the trip commented that he felt the city had lost some of its vibrancy. The restaurants we went to weren’t full and neither was the MTR.
Hong Kong remains an important regional hub, though I sense that some of that share has been lost to Singapore, and probably work-from-home. There are over 9000 companies located there who have parent entities elsewhere. The biggest group are from China, followed by Japan, the U.S. and the U.K.
Slowly but steadily I felt Hong Kong is becoming more like China. On this trip I saw the HKSAR has interspersed the HK flag with the PRC on public buntings. There were also many posters exhorting the 27th handover anniversary in Kowloon park where I worked out one morning.
“Google is still available,” commented my client laconically.
“For how long?” I wondered silently.