黄金周香港零售额11年来首次下降

Chinese tourists last week took scant notice of the turmoil enveloping Hong Kong as they flew there in droves to engage in a yearly ritual – holiday shopping.

上周，大群中国内地游客飞抵香港进行每年一度的黄金周购物，他们没怎么注意席卷香港的风波。

Despite the former British colony’s worst crisis in decades, Hong Kong was the most popular destination outside the mainland for Chinese tourists during the national holiday known as Golden Week, according to data from , China’s biggest travel website by user volume.

用户数量最多的中国旅游网站去哪儿()数据显示，尽管这块前英国殖民地发生了几十年来最严重的危机，但香港仍是国庆黄金周期间中国内地游客最喜欢去的旅游目的地。

Many of the tourists came away with a new appreciation of political protest.

许多游客离开时，对政治抗议产生了一种新的认识。

But any fears that democracy activism might infect Hong Kong’s mainland brethren appear exaggerated. The Golden Week visitors had clear priorities: democracy is fine, as long as it does not get in the way of designer handbags and cosmetics. But it did.

但对于香港民主活动精神可能感染内地同胞的担忧似乎有些夸大。黄金周游客心里有着明确的重点：民主是不错，只要它不影响他们购买名牌手提包和化妆品的话。但他们确实受了影响。

“Occupy Central [the name of the civil disobedience movement] was a disturbance to me and other tourists,” said Jane Luo, a graduate student in Shanghai who stayed in the Hong Kong neighbourhood of Mongkok for the holidays and found many of the stores closed.

来自上海的研究生Jane Luo说：“占中行动（公民抗命运动的名称）对我和其他游客是一种干扰。”她在香港旺角度过黄金周，发现许多商店关门了。

“My first reaction was bewilderment.

“我的第一反应是困惑。”

I didn’t understand why they were taking to the streets. My second impression is that overall, they were quite peaceful in their protests . . . I don’t think witnessing Occupy Central will change the way I behave and think though.”

“我不明白他们为何走上街头。我的第二印象是，总体上他们的抗议是相当和平的……但我不认为见证占中行动会改变我的行为和思维方式。”

The Golden Week holiday, which began on October 1, coincided with mass demonstrations against proposed electoral changes by Beijing that closed much of Hong Kong’s central business district.

始于10月1日的黄金周假期，恰好碰上香港发生反对北京方面制定的选举改革方案的大规模示威，导致香港中心商业区的很大一部分店铺停业。

Travel advice issued by the Chinese National Tourism Association on October 2 warned tour groups from going to the territory because of safety concerns.

出于安全方面的担心，中国国家旅游局(CNTA) 10月2日发布了旅游建议，警告旅游团不要前往香港。

But this had little effect on Chinese shopaholics. The city is always the favoured destination of Chinese holiday tourists but this year’s numbers surged. Qunar said mainlanders using its service to visit Hong Kong had soared by 67 per cent. The tourism board registered 1,159,952 holiday visitors – an increase of 4.8 per cent from last year’s Golden Week, it said.

但这对中国内地的购物狂们几乎毫无影响。香港历来是中国节假日游客最喜欢去的目的地，但今年的赴港人数大增。去哪儿网表示，利用该网站服务前往香港的内地旅游人数猛增了67%。该网表示，黄金周期间，香港旅游发展局的登记游客数量达115.9952万人，比去年同期增加了4.8%。

Before arriving, many Chinese tourists were unaware of the scale of the crisis because of a media blackout on the mainland.

由于中国当局不准境内媒体报道占中活动，因此许多内地游客在到达香港之前，根本不知道这场危机的规模有多大。

Another factor in the flood of visitors was that a large proportion had non-refundable flights. Beijing resident Stella Sun bought a discounted ticket in August and could not change it.

导致游客潮水般涌入的另一项因素是，很高比例的游客买的是不可退款的机票。北京居民Stella Sun于8月买了一张折扣机票，行程不能改动。

“My parents were concerned about my safety going there,” she said.

她说：“我爸妈担心我去香港不安全。”

“But I felt things would be all right since Occupy Central is about expressing wishes for democracy, and tourists would not be targeted. My shopping plans were affected because a lot of the usual shopping areas were obstructed.”

“但我觉得行程会很顺利，因为占中是为了表达民主愿望，不会把游客当作目标。可由于很多通常的购物区进不去，我的购物计划受到了影响。”

Those postings on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter that survived Beijing’s internet censors, portray the bewilderment among new arrivals.

在类似Twitter的中国微博网站新浪微博(Weibo)上，刚到香港的游客们描述了自己的困惑。

“Is it safe to go to Stanley Bay or Harbour City tomorrow? Where are places I can shop?” said one posting on October 3 by “Flowers bloom for you”.

“鲜花为你盛开”10月3日在新浪微博上写道：“明天去赤柱湾(Stanley Bay)或海港城(Harbour City)会安全吗？我在哪里可以购物？”

Hong Kong easily beat Taipei, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok as the top Golden Week destination, according to Qunar. Its rival Ctrip, which is considered China’s leading travel website in terms of revenue, also had Hong Kong as the top overSeas destination for mainlanders.

去哪儿网数据显示，香港轻松击败台北、首尔、吉隆坡和曼谷，成为黄金周中国游客的首选旅游目的地。竞争对手携程网(Ctrip)也表示，香港是中国内地人最喜欢的境外旅游目的地。携程网被认为是中国营收额最高的旅游网站。

Despite the influx of mainlanders wielding credit cards, the protests shuttered many businesses and Hong Kong witnessed the first drop in retail sales during Golden Week since 2003, according to an October 6 press release by the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.

香港零售管理协会(HKRMA) 10月6日的新闻发布稿称，尽管迎来了大量手持信用卡的内地游客，但抗议导致很多商店关门，香港出现自2003年以来首次黄金周零售额下降。

Some sectors, such as watches and jewellery, and fashion and accessories, registered drops of up to 50 per cent.

有些行业，比如手表及首饰、时装及配饰，销售额下降了至多50%。

Meanwhile, political tensions took a toll on other traditionally popular travel destinations for mainland tourists: Hanoi and Manila dropped out of the top 10 amid Chinese tensions with Beijing over maritime rights in the South China Sea.

另一方面，政治紧张也令传统上颇受中国内地游客青睐的其他旅游目的地付出代价：在南中国海(South China Sea)海洋权益上与北京方面关系紧张的河内与马尼拉，跌出了中国游客最喜爱十大旅游目的地排行榜。

Tokyo, which is also embroiled in a dispute with Beijing over maritime claims, fell from sixth to eighth place, according to Qunar data.

去哪儿网数据显示，同样在海洋权益问题上与北京方面存在纠纷的东京，在排行榜上从第6位跌至第8位。