Economically, a lot of businesses profit from mainland Chinese tourists (some mainly thanks to them). Reduced travel in light of this year’s events has caused a serious drop in sales of luxury products, for example.
Yesterday I talked about just that with an HKer who works in marketing. Democracy supporters acknowledge that this trend is hurting the economy, though on bright side they welcome businesses starting to target local long-term customers more.
The number of restaurants and bars I see closing on an almost daily basis is getting sad. My friends in the F&B industry here confirm that they're hurting. Bad.
Hospitality is hit even harder with hotels at 30% occupancy and many having to offer rates at 50% or higher discounts, and having to lay off staff.
HK has been over-reliant on these businesses to provide employment for a long time. Most of the F&B outfits that are closing are fly by night outfits which would only work when everyone in CBD has more money than sense. It will be a good thing if this leads to us diversifying our economy a bit more.
Hong Kong imports a lot from the mainland: food, energy, water... of course those don't come for free and Hong Kong is simply able to pay more than other cities in the region. In 2009, the Hong Kong government offered to reduce water consumption when Guangdong was hit by a drought, but that offer was rejected, probably because selling the water to Hong Kong was so much more profitable.
So it's not exactly altruistic support, but the economic entanglement means that if the mainland decided to embargo Hong Kong, the effect would be devastating.
Yesterday I talked about just that with an HKer who works in marketing. Democracy supporters acknowledge that this trend is hurting the economy, though on bright side they welcome businesses starting to target local long-term customers more.