Hong Kong Looks for Ways to Win Back Big-Spending Tourists

The sisters from southwestern China arrived in Hong Kong on a recent holiday, aiming to see as much as they could — in less than 12 hours.

Carrying only a small bag each, Hu Di, 30, a bank worker, and Hu Ke, 20, a university student, sampled beef noodles in the Central business district, took turns posing for sunset photos at a waterfront promenade, then captured the city’s illuminated skyline after dark. Buying only medicinal oils and retro comics as souvenirs, they spent less than $150 in the day and went back across the mainland China border to stay the night.

The sisters are part of a wildly popular trend among mainland Chinese who call themselves “special forces tourists”: independent travelers who get in and out of the city as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Mainland Chinese make up more than three-quarters of all tourists in the financial hub. But while they were once big spenders in Hong Kong — buying luxury watches, handbags and designer clothes — they now spend less time and money. That is a challenge to the city’s efforts to revive a travel economy hurt by years of antigovernment protests, pandemic restrictions and concerns in the West over its tightening of freedoms through a national security crackdown.

Hong Kong, which once billed itself as Asia’s World City, is now seeking to brand itself as the region’s events capital, emphasizing concerts and trade shows over shopping, to give travelers reasons to return and to spend more.

This year, it unveiled a $4 billion sports park at the site of the city’s former airport, Kai Tak. Its centerpiece is a purple-hued stadium with air-conditioning under each of its 50,000 seats. It was almost at full capacity during an annual Rugby Sevens tournament in late March.