Hong Kong’s hotel and catering industries are expected to struggle during the Mid-Autumn Festival period, with one chain slashing prices by as much as 20 per cent to maintain flagging room occupancy, industry professionals have said.
Representatives from both sectors on Monday attributed the gloomy outlook to the strong Hong Kong dollar, which made the city less attractive to mainland Chinese tourists, as well as a shorter holiday period.
The Mid-Autumn break lasts for three days on the mainland this year, down from eight last year when the festival took place just two days before National Day on October 1 and formed a longer holiday period.
Alan Chan Chung-yee, chief operations officer of Miramar Group, which runs two hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay, said that business was slower this year, prompting the chain to slash room rates by 10 to 20 per cent.
“We have to maintain the occupancy rate, and the hotel price was the only thing we could adjust … the bookings are arriving a lot slower than last year, as tourists may be treating Hong Kong as a backup plan only when they can’t travel elsewhere,” he said.