Original title: "consumption tour to the north" becomes a new lifestyle of Hong Kong residents

Worker's Daily - Ye Xiaozhong, Zhao Siyuan, Liu Youting, reporter of China Industrial Network

"On weekends when I have nothing to do, I will take the high-speed railway to Shenzhen or Guangzhou. Whether it is for dinner, clothes, nail, hair, or even medical beauty, it is much cheaper than Hong Kong." Last weekend, Hong Kong consumer He Shumin just finished a "consumption tour" from West Kowloon, Hong Kong, to Guangzhou by taking the high-speed railway north.

Since July last year, with the implementation of a series of convenient policies for the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area, such as "Hong Kong cars going north", the living radius of Hong Kong residents has continued to expand. More and more Hong Kong residents have gone north to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai and other cities to find rich, diversified and cost-effective consumption options.

The reporter recently learned from the "Hong Kong people's consumption data briefing on going north" (hereinafter referred to as the "briefing") released by Meituan that in the first quarter of 2024, Hong Kong residents' consumption of life services in mainland cities increased by 135% month on month compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, and the transaction volume increased by 157.6%. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are the most popular cities for Hong Kong people to spend in the north in the first quarter of 2024. Among them, Hong Kong consumers' transaction volume of life services in Guangzhou increased by 28% month on month, and the order volume increased by 18.1% month on month; In Shenzhen, the related transaction volume increased by 11.2% month on month, and the order volume increased by 18.9% month on month.

"Hong Kong people going north" drives consumption convection

On Saturday morning, take the high-speed railway from West Kowloon to Guangzhou, and go directly to Tianhe Road, the first business district in South China for shopping; In the afternoon, I checked in at the hotel and went to the Guangzhou Tower. In the evening, I found a massage shop to relax. In the middle of the night, I returned to the hotel and used my mobile phone APP to order takeout; Go to Chimelong Paradise or Rongchuang Paradise to play on Sunday... This has become the standard process for many Hong Kong consumers to spend weekends in the north.

On social media, there are also many experience sharing posts of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen consumption tours. Some consumers are seriously commenting on which tea shop and gourmet shop is the most worthy of clocking in, some consumers share recommendations for hairdressers and nail salons, and some consumers are seeking recommendations for interesting secret room escape, script killing, and KTV stores.

"Every time I come to Guangzhou or Shenzhen, most of the time I go shopping by myself, or buy coupons on the mobile phone APP to do manicures and haircuts, so that all the expenses in a weekend basically add up to no more than 1500 yuan", He Shumin showed reporters the newly made manicures in Guangzhou, "Sometimes I also pull friends to play together, such as secret room escape, script killing, and some VR game experience halls."

According to the Bulletin, the top five categories of Hong Kong consumers who went north to Guangzhou to have fun were hairdressing, beauty salons, secret rooms, KTV and medical plastic surgery; The top five categories of shopping in Shenzhen are hair salon, game hall, KTV, medical plastic surgery and nail salon.

"Of course, when I leave, I will take some snacks and milk tea to Hong Kong with takeout in advance," He Shumin told reporters. The Bulletin also showed that among the takeaway food and beverage consumption in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the two categories with the largest orders were snacks, fast food and drinks.

The "two-way rush" for the integrated development of the Greater Bay Area

According to the statistics of the Hong Kong Immigration Department, nearly 400000 Hong Kong residents left Hong Kong via sea, land and air traffic control stations on April 20, of which 360000 came to the mainland from the north, accounting for more than 90%.

Hong Kong residents are willing to spend in the north, thanks to the improvement of "hard connectivity" such as transportation infrastructure in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and the landing of "soft services" such as various livelihood supporting services. At the same time, Shenzhen and other places have also launched innovative measures to optimize the consumption services of Hong Kong and Macao tourists, improve the cross-border payment environment, and constantly facilitate the consumption of Hong Kong people. The "one hour life circle" of Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area is taking shape.

According to the "Consumption Satisfaction Survey of Shenzhen and Hong Kong" released by the Shenzhen Retail Commerce Industry Association and others, 95.24% of Hong Kong people have come to Shenzhen for consumption for many times, 27.62% of them are high-frequency customers more than once a week, and 73.33% are customers more than once a month; Choose to go back and forth on the same day. Among them, Hong Kong consumers have a high overall satisfaction rate of 97.14% with Shenzhen consumption.

From the consumption type of Hong Kong residents heading north, we can find that "eating, drinking, and having fun" has also extended to more diversified service consumption such as health care and medical care; In the past, the single offline consumption has changed to online offline integration. This deep integration of digital economy and service consumption has broken the space restrictions and become an important thrust of "Hong Kong people's consumption tour to the north".

Industry insiders said that with the help of the digital platform, Hong Kong residents can accurately find diversified and cost-effective consumption supplies, meet the one-stop demand of "eating, drinking, playing, and shopping", and help local physical businesses innovate products and services to provide Hong Kong citizens with more convenient and affordable choices. The continuous rich consumption scene and the growing high-quality supply are also accelerating the two-way economic exchanges and personnel exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong.