Shopping mall and hotel operators expect Hong Kong's Christmas trade to increase by double digits compared with the same period last year. 

“We have implemented various Christmas discounts and activity promotions in our shopping malls since mid-November. Visitor flow since December has increased 10 percent compared with the same period last year,” said Fung Wing-yan, assistant leasing manager at Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency, a member of blue-chip developer Sun Hung Kai Properties.

“We saw that customers are willing to spend but they are selective about their spending, so that the mall has to stage attractions, such as inviting Korean pop groups to hold autograph sessions. We believe a lot of Chinese mainland tourists have visited our malls,” Fung added.

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Fung stressed that if shopping malls organize more promotional activities, this can help extend customers’ dwell time which can convert into consumption expenditure. “We expect the business volume of catering premises and electrical appliance shops in our malls to increase at least 10 percent compared to last year,” she said.

“Restaurants in our shopping malls have been full over the past two weeks. The flow of people this year is better than the same period last year, with an increase of 50 percent and we believe at least 15 percent will spend money,” added Alan Chan Chung-yee, chief operations officer at Miramar Hotel and Investment Company—the business division of Henderson Land Development Company.

In response to Shenzhen’s one-visa-multiple-travel policy, Chan added: “The booking rate of our hotels exceeded 90 percent, of which mainland tourists accounted for about 48 percent, posting an annual growth rate of 3 percent.”

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Boosted by the multiple-entry individual visit scheme for Shenzhen residents, the number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong has increased recently, according to Simon Wong Ka-wo, the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades.

He also mentioned that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has launched different events to keep Hong Kong residents in the city for shopping and dining during the Christmas holidays.

Association for Hong Kong Catering Services Management Chairman Leung Chun-wah said that the room reservation rate on Christmas Day may be over 80 percent.

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Many sittings for Christmas buffet in different hotels are fully booked. In the Verandah of the Peninsula Hong Kong, all Christmas lunch and dinner buffets are fully booked though the lunch and buffet prices have risen by about 4 percent. Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel also said its first rounds of Christmas lunch and dinner sittings are fully booked.

Zhang Xiaoyang contributed to the story.