As anti-Beijing protests grind on for a fourth month, Hong Kong has been left with its tourist industry battered and businesses forced to lay off staff as they struggle to stay afloat
A vendor talks with a visitor at garden of the bronze Tian Tan Buddha, a major tourist attraction at Po Lin Monastery on Hong Kong's Lantau Island, China September 6, 2019.
And with protesters and the government showing no signs of backing down, there are worries things will not improve any time soon. A neighbourhood pharmacist, who asked to be identified only by his surname Chiu, told AFP the overseas customers who accounted for half his sales had slowed to a trickle since the protests began in June.
Hotel occupancy rates are down around half and the retail and dining sectors have been severely impacted. Hong Kong's flagship airline Cathay Pacific also reported an 11-percent yearly drop in passengers for August, when two occupations of the airport saw the blockade of departure gates and the cancellation of hundreds of flights.Several other businesses told AFP their bottom lines had suffered through the long summer of discontent, sparked by a controversial extradition bill many fear would strengthen Beijing's control over the city and further erode its cherished freedoms.
The area around the neon-soaked retail precinct has seen escalating violence, with demonstrators barricading main roads and vandalising the local subway station – and officers responding with baton charges.
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