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Xintian Shopping City is at the end of its life and tourism and retail industry are in urgent need of transformation

2019-11-29T09:20:25.337Z


The media reported on Thursday (28th) that the Xintian Shopping City led by Huang Dingguang, a legislative council member of the DAB's import and export sector, had already been cleared and closed as early as August. However, there are still shops in the city that have not been notified. To continue business


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Written by: Comment Editor

2019-11-29 17:15

Last updated: 2019-11-29 17:15

The media reported on Thursday (28th) that the Xintian Shopping City led by Huang Dingguang, a legislative council member of the DAB's import and export sector, had already been cleared and closed as early as August. However, there are still shops in the city that have not been notified. To continue business. Regardless of the actual situation of this Luoshengmen, the shopping city has been in trial operation since the beginning of 2018. Although it has made several reviews of the operating model and supporting facilities, its scene of monk Luoque is not only difficult to achieve the original intention of diverting passengers, but it is even more difficult to escape the doom. Since the retail industry is still an important part of Hong Kong's economic structure, the Government must learn from this lesson to avoid the recurrence of low-handedness.

The original concept map of Xintian Shopping City. (Courtesy of Xintian Shopping City)

Xintian Shopping City covers an area of ​​about 420,000 square feet and has more than 200 shops, covering cosmetics, pharmacies, home appliances, food and other shops. The real estate developers Xindi and Henderson lease land for a nominal 1 yuan as a new attempt to divert tourists. . The main promoter of the project, Legislative Councillor Huang Dingguang believed that the construction of a shopping city near the border with Lok Ma Chau on the one hand could "improve Hong Kong's ability to receive mainland residents' tourism, and also give full play to its geographical and" buy from Hong Kong "advantages. While the tourism and retail industries continue to develop, they can also play a diversion role, alleviate the negative impacts caused by the excessive concentration of mainland tourists, and provide new employment opportunities for residents in the area to promote balanced development of the society. The original intention is good.

As one of the four major industries, the tourism industry has accounted for 4.5% of GDP in 2017 and employs more than 250,000 Hong Kong residents. Its importance cannot be doubted. Of the 30.59 million overnight visitors, most were tourists from the Mainland who were supplying daily necessities. These "instant fresh" Mainland visitors mainly come to Hong Kong to buy food and tobacco and alcohol, skin care products, clothing and footwear, electrical appliances and photographic supplies. However, due to the carrying capacity of this projectile area, since the free travel in 2003, many tourists' shopping hotspots are not limited to traditional commercial centers such as Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, and more deeply into Sheung Shui, Fanling, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and other neighbourhood communities have caused many residents to feel distressed about the community environment where there is no water supply, and initiated "recovery." Therefore, the construction of a shopping city in Xintian to divert tourists should be the balance between economic development and community life.

There are still restaurants in Xintian Shopping City and patrons. (Photo by Wang Jieen)

Authorities need to divert passengers

Although the current social atmosphere will definitely affect the desire of tourists to come to Hong Kong, the reason for the end of the life of the shopping city is not that Huang Dingguang said that "so many things are happening now and it is difficult to operate", but that it is because of its selling points and supporting facilities. It is difficult to become an alternative place for tourists to play. First of all, even if the shopping city is located in Xintian, next to Huanggang Crossing Bus Station and Lok Ma Chau Port, it should have become the first or last stop for tourists, but otherwise, there are no attractions in the area, which can attract tourists. Come by the way. Secondly, the original shopping city claimed that there would be more than 200 shops settle in, but in the end, there were only more than 10 officially opened, which is far less than a shopping mall in the urban area, which is less attractive. Finally, although there are many bus and minibus lines connected to the shopping city, their location is remote. Without free shuttle buses, it is difficult to entice tourists to make special trips. Even the Mega Box mall, a ten-minute walk from Kowloon Bay MTR Station, must attract people with a free shuttle bus, let alone the Xintian Shopping City?

Xintian Shopping City is finally closed, but the unsustainability of cross-border shopping for Mainland customers still exists. Hong Kong still needs to think about how to upgrade and transform the tourism and retail industry. The experience and original intention of Xintian Shopping City is still for reference. In terms of implementation, although the shopping city has helped merchants overcome difficulties through rent reduction, the adjustment of the supply side can hardly make up for the shortage of the demand side. After all, there is no such thing as “the chicken or the egg first” on the key points of the flow of people. Controversy, but there must be enough supporting facilities and shops to attract people. In addition, as far as the development of the tourism industry is concerned, the side effects of a large number of tourists rushing to Hong Kong have not only focused on the appearance of the community and living environment, but have also increased to the contradiction between China and Hong Kong, so that diverting tourists is still a short-term goal that cannot be ignored. The problem is only how to design and use policies to avoid repeating mistakes. Finally, the tourism industry, which is dominated by overnight stays and shopping, has little effect on economic value-added. In the long run, the Hong Kong Government must also consider how to develop a diversified tourism industry, such as ecotourism and historical tourism, to reverse the current heavy economic, Relying on the humanistic and natural tourism model, and making Hong Kong a truly diversified tourism city.

The impact of more than five months of demonstrations on Hong Kong's tourism and retail markets gradually emerged. The overall number of visitors to Hong Kong in October fell by 43.7% year-on-year, with the decline rates in the Mainland and short-haul markets being 46% and 44%, respectively. No matter when social conflicts pass, the government and legislators need to comprehensively reform Hong Kong's tourism and retail industries so that they can move towards sustainable development and can no longer rely on past unhealthy models.

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Source: hk1

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