A catering sector representative on Saturday said rents will continue to be a challenge despite a recent reduction.

Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades told a Commercial Radio programme that even though the SAR has been welcoming more tourists this year, business performance is worse than the pre-Covid period.

This is because spending for each visitor has dropped by 20 percent.

Noting that landlords have slashed rents by up to 15 percent on average in the past half-year – and even 30 percent in some districts – Wong expressed the hope that they would go down even further.

"If there's so much empty space on the street, the landlords would feel that kind of pressure and they are willing to lower their rent at this moment. And I'm looking forward to more decrease in the rent because still the rents compared to other expenses are quite high," he told reporters.

"Our operating expenses is comprised of rent, salaries and also food costs, and rental is one of the major expenses we encounter. So if the rent can go down by at least another 20 or 25 percent, it would help us a lot."

Wong also noted that the phenomenon of Hongkongers heading north to spend is "irreversible", but he hopes that the government will expand multiple-entry visas to cover the entire Greater Bay Area, or even other mainland cities to help the catering sector.

Meanwhile, Wong said he expects a campaign – which sees more than 3,800 restaurants offering discounts of up to 29 percent to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the SAR's establishment on July 1 –to boost business by up to 15 percent that day.