CHINA / Taiwan, HK, Macao

Mainlanders in HK for holiday swell business
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-09 10:01

Hong Kong received over 387,000 Chinese mainland tourists from April 29 to May 7, less than the 430,000 tourists expected for the Golden Week.

However, many Chinese mainland visitors described their holiday journey to Hong Kong as satisfied, as they enjoyed much during their visits to the Hong Kong Disneyland and the Ocean Park.

Zhu Lili, an employee of a medical instrument company in Beijing, went back to Beijing with brand name cosmetic products, a mobile phone and leisure shoes and shirts.

Coming to Hong Kong for a second time, she had a "wonderful" time in Hong Kong Disneyland on May 2 with her friend as she played all the games, watched fireworks shows and bought souvenirs from the gift shops there.

She said she would visit Hong Kong again next year for "routine shopping."

Jiang Ling and Zhang Fang, office workers from Shanghai, visited Hong Kong with their children.

The two mothers enjoyed their shopping in the Pacific Place and Times Square, while the two 17 year-old youngsters spent their happy hours in the Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland. The two parks did not receive record numbers of visitors during the seven-day Golden Week.

Jiang and Zhang bought over 25,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$1,282) of cosmetic products, fashions for themselves and sports shoes and jackets for their children.

Hong Kong shopping centers still had reasonable business growth though without any "surprising" achievements. The World Trade Center in Causeway Bay received 48 percent more passengers.