fountainhall
September 12th, 2016, 15:07
As many will know, Taiwan recently elected a woman, an alleged lesbian and an avowed proponent of independence for the island as President. The first two are immaterial. The third is not. In Hong Kong last week I had coffee with a very old friend who sits of the Board of a major conglomerate with extensive dealings in China. He told me that Beijing is already starting to put the squeeze on Taiwan to kill all thoughts of independence. The first tactic is to reduce the number of tourists permitted to visit the island. The previous President had made a point of cosying up to Beijing and consequently the number of tourists had mushroomed massively with lots of new hotels opening up. Forbes magazine recently reported that group tours from China to Taiwan are already down 30% since May. Last year mainland Chinese spent US$215 billion on their overseas trips - up 53% from 2014. Yet spending in Hong Kong was down by 8.4% and in Taiwan was up by a mere 1.5%.
The 'problem' with Hong Kong started with the student umbrella democracy movement that caused chaos in large parts of the Central District for 2 months in late 2014. This was severely exacerbated just over a week ago in the elections for the territory's Legislative Council. No less than 5 new legislators from new independence parties were voted in, including a 23-year old leader of that Umbrella Movement. My friend has no doubt that Beijing is in no mood to compromise and that Hong Kong will be in for difficult times. Reductions in tour groups are now a virtual certainly.
All of which should mean significant falls in hotel prices.
The 'problem' with Hong Kong started with the student umbrella democracy movement that caused chaos in large parts of the Central District for 2 months in late 2014. This was severely exacerbated just over a week ago in the elections for the territory's Legislative Council. No less than 5 new legislators from new independence parties were voted in, including a 23-year old leader of that Umbrella Movement. My friend has no doubt that Beijing is in no mood to compromise and that Hong Kong will be in for difficult times. Reductions in tour groups are now a virtual certainly.
All of which should mean significant falls in hotel prices.