(from Shanghaist: 'Don't touch the fruits': Hong Kong fruit vendor's signs warn mainlanders to back off)
Announcing his decision to put tourism issues on the agenda when he heads to the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Leung added: “We understand that people’s daily lives have been affected [by tourists].
“However, we do not accept a small number of people, possibly with political intentions, using this dissatisfaction to support their illegal clashes in stores and shopping malls. This kind of behaviour should be condemned.”
Hoteliers cut prices when bookings failed to materialise as the national holiday approached, but in the end the occupancy rate stood at about 90 per cent, similar to previous years – with guests booking much later than usual or just turning up without a reservation, according to Victor Chan Kok-wai, chairman of the Hong Kong Hotels Association.
Prices last dropped in 2008, during the global financial crisis.
Chan said there was a lack of confidence in the city following the Occupy movement, and the protests against parallel-goods traders in Tuen Mun and Sha Tin had further complicated matters.
Police unleashed pepper spray during clashes with the demonstrators, who marched through shopping centres shouting for mainlanders to go home. Another protest is due to be held in Yuen Long this Sunday.
The protests seemed to have spiralled into a hate campaign against mainland tourists, Chan said. “Would parallel traders really go shopping in Sha Tin? Those people targeted by protesters appeared to be genuine tourists, not parallel traders,” he added.
He noted destinations like Japan and South Korea were trying to attract more mainlanders. In the six-day period from last Wednesday to Monday inclusive, the number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong dropped 1 per cent from last year, to 842,124.
Michael Li Hon-shing, executive director of the Federation of Hotel Owners, said the bigger-spending mainland tourists now tended to bypass Hong Kong.(SCMP)
Leung said the growing number of Chinese visitors has "put pressure on the everyday life of Hong Kong residents".
Residents from 49 Chinese cities can currently apply for a multi-entry travel permit to visit Hong Kong.
Leung said that scheme would not be expanded and that he would raise the issue at the next meeting of the National People's Congress -- China's parliament -- at the beginning of March.
Hong Kongers have grown increasingly angry at the number of Chinese traders who travel to Hong Kong's border towns to stock up on everything from iPads to milk powder.
Protests against the traders have led to violent clashes over recent weekends, with police using pepper spray.
The semi-autonomous southern city of seven million people is also a favorite shopping destination for wealthy mainland visitors eager to stock up on Western luxury brands.
Mass democracy protests at the end of last year also showed building anti-China sentiment, with tens of thousands protesting against Beijing's restrictions on the vote for Hong Kong's next leader.
Negative sentiment has already led to a drop in visitors over the Lunar New Year according to Hong Kong's Travel Industry Council (TIC), which said it was the first decline in 20 years.
Numbers fell 1.09 percent to 842,124 for a six-day period, compared to the same period last year, immigration department figures show.
"I think the string of protests is one reason... the news reports about these kinds of activities certainly upsets their mood for travelling to Hong Kong," TIC executive director Joseph Tung told AFP.(Jakarta Post)
Anti-mainlander protests have hit especially hard at Hong Kong universities, where mainland students make up over 11 percent of the total student population. When mainland student Lushan Ye tried to run for a position in the University of Hong Kong’s Students’ Union, it sparked a furious backlash when a video outed her as a former member of China’s Communist Youth League. Ye herself protested that she had come to Hong Kong “because I admire the freedom and democracy” but the damage was done: Ye and her cabinet (students run as groups for the election) were trounced in the election after opponents painted her an as agent of Beijing.
The election sparked a wider debate about the role Chinese mainlanders play at Hong Kong universities, particularly as Hongkongers do not receive the same type of “national education” that is taught at mainland schools. This has led to broad accusations that mainlanders are brainwashed stooges of the CCP. One flyer posted on HKU’s Democracy Wall was particularly blunt: “To brainwashed Commie-loving Mainlanders, we despise you!”
The anti-mainlander sentiment in Hong Kong has sparked a parallel backlash from mainlanders. “Mainland students somewhat hate local students as well because we feel this hatred from them,” one HKU student explained to Reuters. Mainlanders outside of Hong Kong are especially outraged by the treatment of their compatriots. The Global Times ran an op-ed warning that “McCarthyism” was infiltrating Hong Kong’s schools.
The anti-mainlander protests even became the top trending term on Sina Weibo last week, with mainland netizens decrying Hongkongers as “spoiled” and “arrogant.” Many mainlanders argue that China is in fact the source of Hong Kong’s prosperity and compared Hongkongers to ungrateful children.(Diplomat)
Embracing mainland visitors could amount to a kiss of death in next year's Legco poll. But, he must have learned from the sorry fate of older brother James Tien Pei-chun, who has the rare distinction of being the only Hong Kong member to be kicked out of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. James had the temerity to call on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to quit at the height of the Occupy protests when Beijing made it clear that support for Leung was politically mandatory.
James thought his Legco seat more important than the CPPCC seat.
Michael seems to think his NPC seat more important than Legco. It is a demonstration of loyalty when the Tien family name has become suspect north of the border.
To be fair, Michael Tien's plan is actually quite moderate, proposing to extend the individual visitor scheme to three more mainland cities when 49 cities already enjoy the privilege.
He has also suggested capping the number of visits by Shenzhen residents - who currently make up the bulk of parallel traders from across the border - to 40 a year.
But in our politically charged city, you are either for Hong Kong or you are a "locust" lover, the derogatory Cantonese name for mainlanders.
However defensible Tien's proposal, it's a tough sell.
He and other mainstream loyalists should continue to voice support for mainland visitors, but not expand the scheme.
Instead, we need to do far more to entice quality tourists from elsewhere in Asia and Europe. It's time to diversify.(SCMP)
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