Hong Kong jewellery sales sparkle amid 13% jump in mainland Chinese visitors

Hong Kong recorded a 13 per cent increase in visitors from mainland China during the Lunar New Year holiday against a year ago, with the influx boosting jewellery sales by 10 per cent during the period despite a sharp rise in gold prices.

Industry representatives said on Sunday that overall business was better than last year, although the recovery remained uneven across sectors and was not always directly tied to the greater number of mainland visitors.

Immigration figures showed mainland visitors made 1.02 million trips to the city between February 15 and Saturday, a 13 per cent increase from the 909,628 logged during the same period last year.

The holiday on the mainland runs from February 15 to Monday, spanning nine days from the 28th day of the last month of the lunar calendar to the seventh day after the new year.

Retail sector lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai said market conditions had improved compared with last year, noting that the retail industry reported a general upturn in business.

He said that despite soaring gold prices, jewellery stores still recorded about 10 per cent growth in sales, largely driven by the influx of mainland tourists.