Lackluster Hong Kong sees drop in tourists

Hong Kong saw a further reduction in tourists last month in a worrying trend experts credited to more travel choices for mainland Chinese tourists, easing visa regulations and soft currencies in neighboring countries.

Experts and industry leaders also warned that the city is in an unfavorable position when competing with other regional tourist destinations and that its reputation has suffered from the ongoing protests.

Overall visitor arrivals fell by 1.9 percent year-on-year for the first four weeks of June. The monthly drop was the second year-on-year monthly fall this year. In March, visitor arrivals slid 8.7 percent. Leading the decline was a 10 percent drop in independent mainland visitors, following a 5 percent fall in May.