Are cheap 68 yuan tours for mainland visitors to Hong Kong good for the economy?
Low-budget tours to Hong Kong costing as little as 68 yuan (US$9.35) have been a popular option among mainland visitors over the Labour Day 'golden week' holiday, sparking concerns about how such minimal spending by tourists in the city would benefit the local economy.
Advertisement
A search by the Post on China's leading online travel booking platform Fliggy found that a one-day tour to Hong Kong for a group of 60 on May 6 further dropped to between 35.9 yuan and 39.9 yuan per person, including lunch.
Fliggy is owned by
Alibaba Group Holding , which also owns the South China Morning Post.
The budget tours, which require participants to apply for their own travel visas, mainly target those visiting Hong Kong from Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou. They cover eight major attractions in a single day.
Tourists are asked to assemble at designated places at 8am, before they are taken to the Wong Tai Sin temple, the West Kowloon Cultural District's Art Park and the area outside the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the morning.
Advertisement
After the morning visits, tourists have lunch at a restaurant selected by the tour guides.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
2 hours ago
- RTHK
Fernandes confirms rejection of Saudi move
Fernandes confirms rejection of Saudi move Fernandes first arrived at Manchester United in January 2020. File photo: Reuters Bruno Fernandes confirmed he rejected a huge offer from Saudi Arabia to stay at Manchester United, saying he wanted to "continue to play at the highest level". Speaking to media in a Portugal camp ahead of Wednesday's Nations League semi-final against Germany in Munich, Fernandes confirmed he received an "exciting offer" from Al Hilal but wanted to be part of Ruben Amorim's rebuild at Old Trafford. Reports said Al Hilal were willing to pay United up to US$135 million for the 30-year-old Portugal international. "The president of Al Hilal called me and asked me if I wanted to move there," Fernandes confirmed, saying the club "waited for me to think about my future". "I talked to the gaffer and he asked me not to go," Fernandes revealed. "Man United said they didn't want to sell me. They said if I wanted to go I could but they didn't need the money." The player said a transfer would have been "easy" with several Portuguese players already in Saudi Arabia, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Cancelo and Ruben Neves, but added: "I want to play at the highest possible level. "I want to play major competitions. I know I still can and I want to be happy doing the thing I love the most," he added. "For better or worse, this is how I see football and I'm passionate about football and this is the decision I've made." United endured their worst finish of the Premier League era, finishing 15th. They also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham. United captain Fernandes was one of the few players to emerge with credit from a disastrous season, scoring 19 goals and making 19 assists across all competitions. Former United captain Gary Neville, now a Sky Sports pundit, said the development was "significant". "I think that there was an element of this situation that meant United getting that level of money, for someone of Bruno's age, obviously, you couldn't say that it would have been a bad deal," he said. "But, on the other hand, Manchester United's star player – only player at times – for the last four, five, six years, has been Bruno Fernandes. He's so important." "To turn that money down at a point where Manchester United are at their lowest ebb and say, 'No, I want to fight through this, I want to see it through the other side, I want to come out and achieve things,' I think it says a lot about him as a person, as a character," Neville added. "The club needs people who are going to run through a brick wall for them." United are expected to be busy in the transfer market as Amorim reshapes his under-performing squad. The club have already signed Brazil forward Matheus Cunha from Wolves and are being heavily linked with Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo. Departures could include Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho. Fernandes has made 290 appearances and scored 98 goals for United since his move from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020. (AFP)
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Vietnam faces ‘long' list of ‘tough' US demands to cut Chinese imports in tariff talks
The US sent a 'long' list of 'tough' requests to Vietnam in its tariff negotiations, including demands that could force the country to cut its reliance on Chinese industrial goods imports, two people briefed about the matter said. Advertisement Washington wants Vietnam-based factories to reduce their use of materials and components from China and is asking the country to control more carefully its production and supply chains, one of the people briefed on the talks said, without elaborating on whether quantitative targets were included. The list is part of an 'annex' to a framework text prepared by US negotiators, according to four people familiar with the matter. One of them, who had direct access to the document, said the list was sent to Hanoi at the end of May after the conclusion of a second round of talks with Washington aimed at avoiding 46 per cent 'reciprocal' tariffs on imports from Vietnam. The sources declined to be named because those discussions were not public. Advertisement
RTHK
17 hours ago
- RTHK
Xi, Trump to have phone call this week: White House
Xi, Trump to have phone call this week: White House The Foreign Ministry says Beijing has "no information to provide" on White House claims that the leaders of China and the US would talk this week. File photo: RTHK President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump will likely hold a long-awaited call later this week, the White House said on Monday, as trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies ratchet back up. Asked about the matter on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said Beijing had "no information to provide." Trump re-ignited strains with China last week when he accused the world's second-biggest economy of violating a deal that had led both countries to temporarily reduce huge tit-for-tat tariffs. The Commerce Ministry hit back, saying Washington had seriously undermined the consensus reached during the China-US economic and trade talks in Geneva earlier. "The two leaders will likely talk this week," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing when asked whether Trump and Xi would speak. The presidents of China and the US have yet to have any confirmed contact more than five months since the Republican returned to power, despite frequent claims by the US president that a call is imminent. Trump even said in a Time Magazine interview in April that Xi had called him, but Beijing insisted that there had been no call recently. The US leader introduced in April sweeping worldwide tariffs that targeted China most heavily of all, accusing other countries of "ripping off" the United States and running trade imbalances. China has denounced the tariffs, calling them protectionist, and made it clear no one wins in a trade or tariff war. (AFP)
