Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau says there has been a gradual rebound in the local retail sector, with more stores opening across the city.

During an interview with RTHK on the second anniversary of the current government term, Yau was asked if there’s been a wave of shop closures in Hong Kong amid a drop in retail sales.

The commerce and economic development chief said that while the government does not have statistics on store closures, recent surveys have pointed to an improvement in retail occupancy rates.

He said figures indicated that the number of vacant stores dropped from 18.3 percent in the third quarter of 2020 to around 6.6 percent recently.

“We can see that the situation is improving gradually,” he said.

“But some people may say, there are still a lot of vacant shops. Well, a change in the commercial environment as well as people’s spending behaviour may mean that some retailers no longer need so many physical stores.”

Meanwhile, Yau said there’s also been an increase in the number of mainland and overseas companies setting up shop in Hong Kong.

He noted that in the first half of this year, InvestHK helped 322 firms set up business in the SAR, compared to 383 companies in the whole of last year.

He said this indicates that non-local companies are confident in Hong Kong and are hoping to use the SAR as a stepping stone to enter the Greater Bay Area.

Separately, the minister said the implementation of a real-name registration system for SIM cards has proven effective in combating telephone scams.

He said that as of late May, telecom companies had rejected around 2.4 million SIM card applications and terminated almost 1.8 million unregistered cards.

He said his bureau has been working closely with the police to block suspicious calls, adding that more work will be done in this area.