Influence Of Anti-extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement In Hong Kong On Tourism

Introduction

Starting from June in 2019, there is a protest occurring in Hong Kong, and it has lasted for months and is still continuing now. This protest has affected lots of aspects in this city, especially the tourism. People always argue that this protest is bad for Hong Kong because it has adversely affected Hong Kong’s tourism development which is an important industry. However, there is also some article telling us that the protest may also bring some new stimulation to this industry. Therefore in the following report, we would like to investigate the impact of the protest in tourism, no matter positive or negative.

Background of the protest

The full name of the protest is Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. It is a protest that against a controversial plan to allow extraditions to mainland China(Li, 2019). Since some of the citizens’ wants cannot be fulfilled through peaceful protests, they turn to more active ways in order to speak out their demands. With those demands and their actions, the atmosphere among two sides becomes more tense.

Methodology

In the following report, the methodology we use for finding information are mostly second hand information. We would look at both positive and negative impacts from different perspectives so as to have a comprehensive picture of this issue and avoid having bias on any side.

Negative impacts

1. Declining number of tourists

Starting from July, the protests are becoming more widespread and the atmosphere becomes more tense, this adversely affected the performance of the tourism industry as the number of tourists coming to Hong Kong decreases. According to Hong Kong Financial Secretary, overall speaking, it has a 40% drop in tourist numbers in 2019(BBC, 2019). From the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the number of Chinese tourists declined for 5.5 per cent(Tsang, 2019). The news also mentions that not only the tourists from mainland China, except visitors from South and Southeast Asia, visitors from other regions also become less willing to visit Hong Kong during those times. There are various reasons accounting for this phenomenon. The first one is that in August, some protesters protested in the airport and paralysed the normal operation of the Hong Kong airport(BBC, 2019). Almost 1000 flights had to be cancelled due to a temporarily shutdown of the airport(Tsang, 2019). When the airport cannot operate normally, tourists will be more reluctant to visit that place. According to a spokeperson, “the travel trade has reported that the number of forward bookings in August and September has dropped significantly.” The future booking has also decreased according to Cathay Pacific Group Chairman. The second reason is that with the uncertainty in Hong Kong, tourists prefer visiting other places with similar features like South Korea and Japan. There is also some interview from mainland tourists. For example, a Wuhan University student points out that she refuses to come to Hong Kong because she afraid that she will be beaten if she comes(Hong et al. 2019, Che, Lam & Hu). It shows that the uncertainty in Hong Kong will make them reluctant to visit. Apart from that, several countries, such as the United States, issued an advisory to warn its citizens coming to Hong Kong in August (Mullany, 2019). It threatens the American tourists from coming to Hong Kong since they may find it unsafe. It is because the fierce riot of the police and the protestors has frightened off the potential visitors (Cheung, 2019).

2. Loss of profits of tourism-related industry

Since less tourists are willing to come to Hong Kong, it will also worsen the performance of the tourism-related industry, such as hotel and retail industry. The first tourism-related industry that will be affected is the hotel industry. A hotel owners’ group in an interview has mentioned that Hong Kong’s hotel occupancy for July will decrease for 3-4%(Chiu & Tsang, 2019). According to the data from WebBeds, In order to attract more customers, the average room rate for a three-star hotel fell 46% to HK$446(Lam, 2019). With a lower room rate and a decreasing occupancy rate, the hotel earns less profit during that period. The case keep worsening as time went by. In 2019, the Mainland tourists alone contribute to a 13% decline of revenue for each hotel room(Danganan et al. 2019, Gagua & Punay). Apart from the hotel industry, the retail industry has also experienced a hard time. In August, sales of medicines and cosmetics, which is popular products in eyes of tourists, have decreased for 16.5%(Danganan et al. 2019, Gagua & Punay). Drop rates were also seen in other products. The golden week starting from October 1 always attracted lots of Mainland tourists to shop in Hong Kong(Jacobs, 2019). However, in times of protest, the mainlanders refused to come to Hong Kong. The Sogo Department Store has demonstrated a good example how the protest has adversely affected their performance. There is 4.6% loss of sales and 3.7% decrease of footprints(Choi, 2019). The article also mentions that the mainland tourists spend much less that before during the time of protest. According to the New York Times, some of Hong Kong’s priciest restaurants were empty. It shows that the restaurants, which are also related to the tourism industry, fail to earn money from tourists due to the emergence of protest.

3. Loss of income

As protests continue, the situation of the tourism industry continues to worsen. With the decreasing of tourists, the demand for workers in tourism industry also decrease. For example a tour guide in Chang Chau mentioned that their income has been reduced to zero during the time of protest(Yau, 2019). Since their income are directly proportional with the number of tourists visiting that area, when less tourists come, they will earn much less or even zero income. This will severely worsen their daily live. Apart from tour guide, workers in other tourism industry have also been affected. About 77% of people working in the hotels were taken to have unpaid leave (Hong, 2019). It is because when the revenue decreases, the hotel cannot bear too much expenses such as the wages of the workers. With the continue decreasing of profits of shops and hotels, it is estimated in the coming 6 months, there will be at least 5600 job redundancies and 7000 company disclosures (Tsang, 2019). It will make people loss of their income during this time.

Despite the fact that the media and the public emphasized the negative impacts on tourism, there are positive impacts neglected. Hong Kong under protests actually became an attraction for some tourists and may favour the future development of tourism.

Hong Kong is always experiencing overtourism (Ka Shing and Ling-Hin, 2019) but the protests mitigated the situation. With great reduction in tourists’ number and hotel rents, in which a study found a hotel of HK$71 a night suffered decline of 65.7% from its lowest rate in March 2018 (Ka-sing, 2019), tourists could save their accommodation expenditures and travel in tourist hot spots without crowd. According to CNN Travel (2019), the low price of airfare and hotels made Hong Kong a affordable destination for some tourists, and they enjoyed the trip with short queues. Even the protest-hit frightened some foreigners, the special travel experience with lower price and relatively “undertourism” attracted other kinds of tourists.

An alternative form of tourism is also formed during protest times – “Protest Tourism”. Protests in Hong Kong have drawn attention from all over the world with plenty of videos and photos on the media. It might frighten some tourists from visiting while some were on the contrary. For example, the scene of fights between protestors and police, the Lennon Wall and graffities on the street were good photographic materials for photographers. A New York photographer, Lauren Crothers (2019), said “I felt a natural compulsion to return and make photographs”. Hong Kong became popular for photographers to record the unprecedented moments during protests. Danish photographer Nicolas Asfouri even won the 2020 World Press Photo Contest with his photographs (The Straits Times, 2020). Apart from scenery during protests, the political nature of protests also engaged outsiders to visit Hong Kong. Some tourists visited Hong Kong to support the pro-democracy party, such as Italian opera singer Stefano Lodola by participating and singing in protests (Spectee, 2019) and Japanese Masanori Nishikawa by distributing coffee to bring warmth (The Stand News, 2019), while some came for the pro-government party, like some mainland students joined the support-police assembly (Ka Man, 2019). No matter which stances they are taking, the protests actually encouraged their visit to Hong Kong. The special circumstances became a unique attraction of Hong Kong tourism at that time, resulting in “Protest Tourism”.

The protest-hit attracted tourists that may not visit Hong Kong in normal times, and diversified tourist types to Hong Kong. This alleviated the short-term reduction in tourist number during protest. On the other hand, it favours the future development of tourism in the long-term in terms of economic structure and place branding.

The protests alleviated over-reliance on mainland tourists in respect of Hong Kong’s tourism structure. Mainland is always Hong Kong’s largest visitor source market, which accounts for 78% of total arrival in 2018 (Tourism Commission, 2019). From the figure, we could see Hong Kong tourism highly relying on mainland tourists, and this brings a structural problem. The over-reliance on mainland tourists and shoppers in Hong Kong is unhealthy (Peter, 2020). Under the current protests, many mainlanders were afraid of being discriminated in Hong Kong due to the intensified conflicts between some Hong Kong people and Chinese government. It evidenced the detrimental hit on the economy when the number of mainland tourists rapidly decreased. However, from another perspective, the incident provided a chance to evaluate the proportion of tourists in Hong Kong and reduce reliance on mainlanders. The effect is not obvious now, but if the protests continue with economic issues, the large companies and Government will attempt to modify the economic structure of tourism, such as opening up new markets and expanding the tourist base. This helps Hong Kong’s tourism industry to diversify its source of tourists and develop a more stable economic base in the future.

A distinctive place branding is constructed by protests and favours tourism development in the future. Hong Kong has been regarded as a “Asia’s World City” offering global connectivity, security and rich diversity (Brand Hong Kong, 2020). Yet, the news, photographs, videos and comments based on the Hong Kong protests show the entirely different side of Hong Kong to the world. These promotional materials, opinions of others and media contributed to the destination image formation (Nigel, 2014). Some think the protests showed “a city of energy, innovation and adaptability” (Peter, 2020) while some claim Hong Kong as an unsafe and violent city. However, these viewpoints upend the original Hong Kong image and further strengthen Hong Kong’s unique place branding, as well as drawing attention from all over the world. In the long-term, the vivid image of Hong Kong will become a selling point for curious outsiders to experience Hong Kong styled travel, such as meeting Hongkongers that are willing to speak up. Therefore, the protests, as an alternative kind of place branding, will enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness in attracting tourists among cities.

To conclude, the protests frightened the tourists off, and sent Hong Kong economy into recession with loss of tourism-related jobs and reduction in income in no doubt. Yet, the protests also act as a booster of alternative form of tourism which attract other kinds of tourists in the short term, and provide a chance to cure the over-reliance problem and rejuvenate Hong Kong’s branding in the long term. The protests happened, and we could make it as an opportunity instead of challenge. I believe the enduring positive impacts will definitely favour the future development of Hong Kong tourism.