Hong Kong received over 387,000 Chinese mainland tourists from April 29 to May 7, less than the expected tourist arrival number of 430,000 for the Golden Week.

However, many Chinese mainland visitors described their just finished journey to Hong Kong as satisfied, as they enjoyed much during their visits to the Hong Kong Disneyland and the Ocean Park.

Zhu Lili, an employee of a medical instrument company in Beijing, went back to Beijing with brand name cosmetic products, a mobile phone and leisure shoes and shirts.

Coming to Hong Kong for a second time, she had a "wonderful" time in Hong Kong Disneyland on May 2 with her friend as she played all the games, watched fireworks shows and bought souvenirs from the gift shops there.

She said she would visit Hong Kong again next year for "routine shopping".

Jiang Ling and Zhang Fang, office ladies from Shanghai, visited Hong Kong with their children.

The two mothers enjoyed their shopping in the Pacific Place and Times Square, while the two 17 year-old youngsters spent their happy hours in the Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland. The two parks did not receive ceiling numbers of visitors during the seven-day Golden Week.

Jiang and Zhang bought over HK$25,000 (US$1,282) of cosmetic products, fashions for themselves and sports shoes and jackets for their children.

Hong Kong shopping centers still had reasonable business growth though without any "surprising" achievements. The World Trade Center in Causeway Bay received 48 percent more passengers, and the each shop obtained at least 10 percent more of business volume.

The APM Shopping Center attracted 100,000 passengers during holding "night fair", with over HK$10 million (US$1.28 million) of business volume.

Lukfood Holdings (International) Limited's business volume of jewelry increased by about 10 percent during the Golden Week, as the Chinese mainland are greeting the wedding season.

However, Hong Kong travel agencies are somewhat disappointed with the Golden Week results. According to a Hong Kong association of travel agencies in charge of inbound tourist groups, the number of tourists groups to Hong Kong during the Golden Week decreased by at least 30 percent and it blamed the hiked prices of the hotel rooms for the decease.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2006)