More than 13.7 million visitors have arrived in Hong Kong this year as of March 27, up about 17 percent year-on-year, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government said in a social media post today. He expects February retail sales, to be released next week, to show a healthy increase, on track to be the 10th consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
Art Basel, an international art event, is being held in Hong Kong. Chen Maobo pointed out that in the past few weeks, a series of large-scale events have been held in Hong Kong, adding more vitality and momentum to the tourism industry, which has recovered well, the continued improvement in the stock market and the residential property market, together with buoyant market sentiment, has led to continued growth in the catering, retail and other sectors, further consolidating market confidence and strengthening domestic consumption.
Speaking of the situation in the Middle East, Chen Maobo said that in the short term, as Hong Kong’s economy is dominated by the service industry and the proportion of goods exported to the Middle East is relatively low, the direct impact is limited; even if international investment sentiment is troubled, but Hong Kong’s financial markets have been smooth and orderly, and capital flows have remained stable and abundant. In the medium term, Hong Kong’s energy supply will remain relatively stable with the strong backing of the state, and the SAR government is closely monitoring and evaluating the functioning of the market.