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Tourism Northern exposure Mainland tourists now account for more than 70 percent of visitors to Hong Kong. Institute members in the field say the influx from the north is helping many sectors of the economy boom, as George W. Russell reports n one chilly November day, the wind and pelting rain that accompanied Hong Kong’s winter monsoon drove a knot of Mainland tourists visiting Central into a Sasa cosmetics store. The sibilant sounds of Mandarin echoed around the store as, ignoring international brands such as L’Oréal, Bulgari and Revlon, other Mainland visitors hoovered up packs of the store’s own-brand products, such as Sasatinnie Rose Hip Oil Tightening and Rejuvenating Silky Masks. In other aisles, creams, perfumes and lotions filled shopping baskets. Peng Cheng, who travelled 2,600 kilometres from Changchun, Jilin province, to visit Hong Kong, gathers up tubes of lipstick, exclaiming: “Sasa has everything I want.” That kind of endorsement is music to the ears of Guy Look, chief financial officer and executive director of Sasa International, and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs. 34 December 2012 Sasa released its financial results last month, for the six months ended 30 September, and Look specifically credits Mainland tourists for the company’s improved numbers. “The sustained increase in Mainland tourist arrivals is a consistent growth driver for the company,” he says. The trip by Peng and her friends was among the 25.33 million visits made by Mainlanders to Hong Kong in the first nine months of 2012, a 24.2 percent increase over the same period last year, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board data released on 1 November. That figure accounts for 71.6 percent of the total of 35.38 million visitor arrivals over that period, illustrating the influence of Mainlanders on Hong Kong’s tourism industry. It’s an indication of the rising global power of the Chinese tourist, leading industry pundits observe. “The global tourism industry is going to be cast increasingly as a reflection of what the Chinese, and to a lesser extent Indian, traveller wants,” said Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the iconic Lonely Planet series of travel guidebooks on a recent visit to Hong Kong. PHOTO: AFP
December 2012 35
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 12 VOLUME 8 DECEMBER 2012 Acc
Page 3 and 4: REGULARS 01 President’s message 0
Page 5 and 6: Two lay members named to Council Th
Page 7 and 8: Talks over European Union budget en
Page 9 and 10: NEWS GREATER CHINA eBay to embark o
Page 11 and 12: CCB chairman defends Mainland bank
Page 13 and 14: As audit work becomes less profitab
Page 15 and 16: executive officer of TeleEye, a med
Page 17 and 18: (served by Mainland CPA firms) that
Page 19 and 20: GUNS Roy Leung Partner, audit and a
Page 21 and 22: PHOTO: ALAN CHEUNG AND SUNNY YU wat
Page 23 and 24: Alpha Tsang Senior manager, assuran
Page 25 and 26: December 2012 29
Page 27 and 28: was a really huge step up and a com
Page 29: 38 million The number of electronic
Page 33 and 34: maintain a diversified visitor port
Page 35 and 36: CPAs make a difference Giving back
Page 37 and 38: CPAs make a difference Patrick Lo C
Page 39 and 40: CPAs make a difference Richard Chen
Page 41 and 42: Fair value How your property valuat
Page 43 and 44: 121 TechWatch The latest standards
Page 45 and 46: Tech Q&A The Institute has issued a
Page 47 and 48: Events Your guide to courses, works
Page 49 and 50: Previous page: The Tivoli Gardens T
Page 51 and 52: Moonwatching Timepieces are enhance

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