Rain dampens visitor numbers at Hong Kong attractions on day 2 of ‘golden week’

Mainland Chinese tourists have flooded Hong Kong's retail establishments during the second day of the city's National Day "golden week" holiday, seeking various items ranging from outdoor gear to books. On Thursday, the first day of the break, Hong Kong recorded more than 277,300 mainland visitors, accounting for approximately 47 percent of total arrivals that day, according to immigration statistics. By Friday morning, the city had welcomed over 68,800 mainland tourists.

As of noon, shopping districts in Mong Kok were bustling with visitors and pedestrians. Beauty salons and tea houses were particularly busy, with a queue forming at Sim City, a popular shopping center known for its camera equipment. A university student from Hunan, David Liu Haibo, accompanied by two friends, had traveled to Hong Kong for a hiking expedition that would include a visit to Grass Island.

They were specifically looking to purchase outdoor gear at Grand Plaza in Mong Kok, having heard through the Chinese social media platform RedNote that the shopping center was renowned for its outdoor clothing and equipment. Each of them planned to spend around HK$2,000 (US$255) on windbreakers and outdoor backpacks, with the Osprey models costing between HK$500 to HK$600 more in mainland China due to favorable exchange rates.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Sichuan man named Sheng and his friends spent the majority of their two-day visit in Hong Kong exploring bookstores instead of shopping centers. They made a notable purchase of a collector's edition of the traditional Chinese novel Jin Ping Mei, which cost HK$1,580 and was unavailable on the mainland. Sheng expressed his fondness for historical folklore and popular fiction, highlighting the book's inclusion of commentaries by Huang Lin, a distinguished professor at Fudan University and president of the Chinese Jin Ping Mei Research Association.

Wang, a visitor from Zhejiang, mentioned her group of two families with four children, who spent about HK$2,000 on bags, medicine, and cosmetics on the first day, including sportswear for her two sons such as football jerseys from teams like Real Madrid. Hong Kong is projected to welcome around 1.29 million mainland Chinese travelers during the golden week break, which runs from October 1 to 7.