Hong Kong’s economy showed resilience in the first quarter of this year, with preliminary gross domestic product estimates signaling stable growth, driven by a tourism rebound and stronger export performance despite global uncertainties, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday.
Writing in a weekly blog, he said the HKSAR government expects about 840,000 visitors from the Chinese mainland to visit Hong Kong during next month’s five-day Labor Day holiday break. Compared with last year’s Labor Day and this year’s Chinese New Year, average daily visitor arrivals are expected to rise by 10 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
Chan highlighted the success of the city’s abundant celebration events and exhibitions, including drone shows, the upcoming Buddha Birthday celebrations, a miniature art exhibition on The Peak, and a 120,000-brick LEGO floral installation.
ALSO READ: Chan: Despite geopolitics, HK’s economic future very positive
Boosted by an array of signature events and global conventions, Hong Kong welcomed 12.2 million visitors in the first quarter, marking a nine-percent year-on-year increase, with the number of mainland travelers increasing by six percent to 9.22 million.
What’s worth noting is that the number of non-mainland visitors jumped by a substantial 18 percent to 2.98 million.
Retail and catering benefited with seasonally adjusted retail sales in January and February recording month-on-month increases.
The exports sector has been another strong driver of the economic rebound as the SAR’s merchandise export value recorded accelerated year-on-year growth in the first three months. Exports to the mainland and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also saw robust growth.
ALSO READ: Chan: Hong Kong doubling down on new productive forces
Exports to the United States too registered moderate increases despite escalating trade barriers.
With these positive factors, initial estimates of the first quarter’s GDP growth, to be released this week, are expected to show a solid performance, Chan said.
However, he warned of risks from the US government’s “bullying and unilateralism”, which will continue to weigh on global economic prospects, referring to the International Monetary Fund’s lower global growth forecast for 2025 -- from 3.3 percent to 2.8 percent.
Chan said he’s confident Hong Kong can help businesses navigate the challenges with a series of favorable policies and measures.
READ MORE: Hong Kong reinvents itself as burgeoning global innovation nexus
“The HKSAR government is accelerating technology innovation and leveraging it to empower traditional industries’ transformation, injecting new momentum into high-quality economic development,” he said.
While accelerating economic development, he added that the government should resolutely advance fiscal consolidation plans to ensure the robustness and sustainability of public finances. In the 2025-26 Budget, the finance chief unveiled plans to control expenditure growth and moderately raise government revenue.
Chan said these plans will be implemented in stages to restore the balance of public finance but, inevitably, trade-offs will have to be made in the process.
He pledged the SAR government will ensure the attractiveness and competitiveness of Hong Kong’s business environment, and minimize the impact on society as a whole.
