Hong Kong Hotel and Catering Industry Association: Hotel room rates rise during holidays, catering industry revenue performance is poor.

The Easter and Qingming Festival holidays end today, the 7th of April. Leung Hei, the chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Restaurant and Catering Industry, stated on a radio program that overall market conditions during the long holidays were better compared to last year, but still worse than regular weekends. He mentioned that 2.3 million Hong Kong residents traveled abroad, leading to a loss in domestic spending power, while 570,000 tourists arrived to make up for that loss. Most hotels had a 100% occupancy rate, with room prices increasing by about 15% to 20%, but the food and beverage industry showed a decrease in revenue of 15% to 20%. Leung pointed out that Korean restaurants, operated by Koreans, had relatively good revenue, with double-digit growth and "winning a few percentage points". This was because there are not many Korean-owned restaurants solely operated by Koreans on the mainland. Overall, Leung described the market conditions during the Easter holidays as "so-so". He further mentioned that from January to March this year, the overall business performance in the industry was decent, as many gatherings and events were postponed to this period due to the fire at Tai Po's Hong Fook Garden at the end of last year. Additionally, last year's Legislative Council election caused many social activities to be postponed until early this year due to concerns about being included in election expenses. Leung also noted that April is usually a slow season for the food and beverage and hotel industry, but fortunately it coincided with mainland Chinese holidays this year. However, many tourists indicated that Hong Kong was just one stop in their Greater Bay Area itinerary, and some chose to visit Hong Kong due to instability in other countries, such as potential conflicts. Leung believes that Hong Kong must maintain its competitive edge.