Travel tours with itineraries focused on shopping in popular supermarkets in nearby Shenzhen and other mainland Chinese cities have become a hit with young Hongkongers after agencies launched new packages to cater to a growing appetite for splashing the cash across the border.
City tour operators said on Thursday the number of Hongkongers who had joined their trips to the mainland had surged after the coronavirus pandemic.
They added the tours were especially popular with younger people who wanted to explore and shop for bargains, as well as for items only available on the mainland.
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About 10 travel agencies have launched such tour packages, sparked by a trend towards people shopping in popular over-the-border destinations like the members-only bulk retailer Sam’s Club, Timothy Chui Ting-pong, the executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said.
“We have seen more people join our tours to the mainland after the coronavirus pandemic,” Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, the executive director of EGL Tours, said.
He added that the number of people travelling to the mainland was three times higher than before the pandemic.
“There were more older tourists to the mainland before the pandemic but, after the pandemic, many young people have heard that there are many places to visit in Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area, and the prices, transportation, public security and sanitation are all good there,” Huen said.
The Post has found that at least four travel agencies launched two- or three-day tours to Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
All of them include a shopping session at Sam’s Club plus a one-year membership for two people worth 260 yuan (US$37) at the warehouse-style store.
Each of the agencies have more than 10 tour groups scheduled in January, to be made up of about 20 to 40 people each, with some of them already fully booked.
The tours charge from HK$299 (US$38) to HK$659 a head. In addition to shopping, the tours also involve quality dining and entertainment.
Hongkongers cross border for National Day long weekend, eyeing good deals and food
EGL Tours gives each group a karaoke room and two mahjong tables at the hotel and Wing On Travel settles tourists into a five-star hotel and provides feasts of chicken and fish.
Miramar Travel features a beef hotpot, a seafood barbecue buffet, and self-pay late-night braised chicken.
EGL Tours launched a new two-day tour to Shenzhen and Dongguan in Guangdong last Saturday.
The first day of the itinerary will cover Songhu Yanyu, one of the main attractions of Songshan Lake in Dongguan. Tourists also enjoy the scenery at the Xixi Ancient Village in Dongguan before being taken to Sam’s Club, owned by US supermarket giant Walmart, in Shenzhen for shopping.
The tour charges between HK$459 and HK$559 a head depending on the days involved. The cost covers transport, food, hotel accommodation as well as a membership card for two at Sam’s Club.
Huen said the company added the new element of shopping at the store, in addition to its traditional tours of mainland cities, in response to demand.
Hongkongers go bargain hunting in Shenzhen for National Day long weekend
He added the shopping tour had proven popular as all of the January departures, made up of two groups a day with 40 people each, were already fully booked. The first group leaves on Saturday.
Huen said the agency on Wednesday launched another two-day tour to Huizhou, also one of the mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area – the Chinese government’s scheme to link nine cities of Guangdong as well as Hong Kong and Macau into an integrated economic and business hub – because of the response.
He added the Huizhou trip, which charges HK$429 to HK$529 and covers scenic spots on the first day, with the second dedicated to shopping at a Sam’s Club, had already attracted about 100 people in just one day.
Miramar Travel has also launched a two-day Dongguan-Shenzhen tour, designed to cover attractions like Dongguan Botanical Garden, dining, hotel accommodation, and shopping in Sam’s Club in Shenzhen.
The tour charges between HK$379 and HK$449 a head.
Large numbers of city residents resumed travel across the border to Shenzhen for dining and shopping at weekends and on holidays after cross-border restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic were lifted.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Penny-wise Hongkongers ditch city to shop, dine and play in Shenzhen, leaving local businesses high and dry
- Hong Kong-owned electronics factory shuts down in Shenzhen and lays off workers as economic downturn bites
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