- Don-Alvin Adegeest
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Regional political upheavals can cause global repercussions for fashion
brands, as tourists forsake traveling to areas of disorder or disaster.
In France that meant shoppers avoided Paris in the run-up to Christmas and
January this year, as anti-governent protests rocked the country, costing
luxury brands and retailers a 60 million euro loss in business.
In Hong Kong, a city where the retail industry is a pillar of its economy,
the protests that began in June are now having a similar effect on
businesses.
Luxury group Richemont earlier this month said the protests knocked-back
sales of its watches due to store closures and fewer visitors, as other
retailers in the territory are forecasting a similar decline in sales.
Hong Kong, a hub for wealthy Asian shoppers, has suffered a slump in
tourism and in June hotel occupancy was down a reported 20 percent.
The Hong Kong Retail Management Association (HKRMA) said most members had
seen sales fall during in the past month, and forecast more pain to come,
according to the BBC.
This photo by Stanley Lai for @appledaily_hk
during the police siege of #ShaTin
New Town Plaza is surreal.
pic.twitter.com/4jlC5OMcc1— Yuen Chan (@xinwenxiaojie) 14
July 2019
“The unexpected store closures due to the protests not only led to sales
loss, but also directly affected retail staff’s take-home income,
especially part-time staff and those paid on a commission basis,” the HKRMA
said in a statement.
The group said July and August are peak business seasons retailers and as
protests continue and spread, “our members forecast a drop by double digit
in the next months”.
