Sources from Hong Kong's tourism believe that the brand retail stores have bid farewell to their nightmare and are benefited much from the increasing number of mainland tourists who brought here a strong consuming trend.

They said that Lanecrawford in Central District, SOGO in Causeway Bay and CRC Department Store in Wanchai have become the most frequently visited purchasing centers for the mainland shoppers.

Lanecrawford was hit heavily during the financial crisis in the late 1990s. It closed part of its chain stores, quickened the privatization steps and focused its management on stores in the Central Districts. Now, mainland tourists, knowing the brand stores, go directly to them for world famous fashions.

Many mainland tourists are also familiar with other world famous brands like LV, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss, Gucci and Prada here.

Jewelry and goldsmith shops have become another of the biggest winners. Chow Thai Fook Jewelry -- Hong Kong's newly elected top 10 brands, Luk Fook Jewelry, Goldsmith. Co Ltd and other shops have made big profits because the rushing in of mainland tourists. 　　

As Lu Fook Jewelry and Goldsmith Co Ltd stipulate that all the income from their mainland chain stores must be used for advertising, so many visitors are already familiar with their products before arriving.

Sa Sa Cosmetics was also one of mainland tourists' favorite stores. Its sales volume during the Spring Festival period witnessed at least 10 percent increase in its 33 stores over the previous year. During the period, every customer bought an averageof 185 Hong Kong dollars (23.7 US dollars) of cosmetic products in Sa Sa which has over 5,000 kinds of world brands products.

Though many businessmen in Hong Kong have begun to open cosmetic products shop instead of running other business. Sa Sa's status will not be changed with the predicted increase of mainland shoppers this year.

More and more world top brands companies have set up their flagship stores in Hong Kong. French YSL and Spanish Mango will soon do the same.

Hong Kong Tourism Board predicted that the number of mainland tourists to Hong Kong is expected to witness an 8.4 percent up, tonearly 18 million, this year.

Latest figure showed that a total of 16.57 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong in 2002, up 20.7 percent, compared withthat of in 2001.

However, stocks analysts here believed that though the mainland tourists give a strong push to the local consumption, the weak sentiment of local buyers would remain to be a problem for the HK retailers.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2003)