Cross-border shoppers, mostly from Hong Kong but also Macao, are boosting retail sales in Shenzhen, Yicai Global reports.
Official data shows the first 11 months of last year yielded 950 billion yuan in retail consumer goods sales in Shenzhen – a 7.3 percent year-on-year rise. The final total for the year is expected to top a trillion yuan.
Yicai Global reported that “a big jump in spending from people from Hong Kong and Macao” was contributing to sales growth in the mainland city, which can be reached in just 15 minutes by high-speed rail from Hong Kong and is a comfortable, hour-long ferry ride from Macao.
[See more: Here’s how to get to some of the Greater Bay Area cities from Macao]
Shenzhen’s retail, leisure, dining, sightseeing, dental and car maintenance businesses were among the many benefiting from the two SARs’ spending power, it noted, pointing out that many Hong Kong residents were in the habit of visiting Shenzhen after work.
The Chinese mainland offers considerably cheaper prices than both Macao and Hong Kong.
In May last year, Fong Kin Fu, director of the Federal General Commercial Association of Macau Small and Medium Enterprises, warned that “the departure of residents to visit, shop and eat in Guangdong” was an issue for local retailers.
