A retail sector lawmaker and a bar industry representative on Tuesday attributed slow sales during the Christmas break to people travelling out of the SAR and a lack of incoming tourists to make up for it.

Their comments came as Hong Kong saw over one million people enter or leave the city for three consecutive days, with about 480,000 people departing on Christmas Day, according to the Immigration Department.

Speaking on an RTHK radio program, retail and wholesale sector lawmaker Peter Shiu said Hongkongers have always liked to travel overseas during long holidays – but visitors to the SAR can't make up for the spending power of the people who've left the city for a break.

"There were no long holidays for people in mainland China during Christmas, so the number of visitors was generally average,” he said.

“And due to Hong Kong's carrying capacity and labour shortage issues, I heard that hotel and airfare prices have not yet returned to their pre-2018 levels. So, if the prices are not so cheap, tourists [from other places] may not necessarily choose to come to Hong Kong for travel.”

With the exception of some cosmetics chain stores recording a boost in sales as a result of their special promotions, Shiu said retail sales have generally been sluggish this Christmas.

Meanwhile, the director of the Lan Kwai Fong Association, Anthea Cheung, said the average spending per person in the area was around HK$1,000, which was similar to previous years.

“The crowd on December 24th and 25th was very big, but in the past, people might turn up in Lan Kwai Fong at 2 pm. This year they came later. They only started to come to celebrate at around 5 or 6 pm,” Cheung said.

She urged the government to organise more large-scale international concerts to bring in overseas tourists.