My suggestion would be to avoid an anecdotal perspective and concentrate on the hard data alone. Counting tails or number of champagne bottles sold is unhelpful. What does that prove? Change is easily mixed up with demise, especially from the perspective of the inevitible losers change always brings with it. Maybe the new big spender is now a Chinese CEO buying rounds in a Kowloon karaoke bar we never heard of. Tiger, how do you "see" locals taking more LCC? And what is "more" and is it bad? LCC are a global trend, of course they will grow, as will Cathay's own UO. Subjective evaluation results most likely in overweighting isolate phenomena and losing focus of the overall data. It is not possible to "see" or "feel" the state of the economy.
Like it or not ( I sure don't), but the future success of HK is not dependent on expats having fun in LKF. China won, freedom is dead, long live HK. HKIA growth rates, traffic numbers, profit of airlines, outlook from analysts, that is what counts when we talk about business. The relevant statistical key figures all indicate clearly that HKIA will soon surpass pre-covid traffic numbers and high profit for CX. Meanwhile Cargo traffic at HKIA is already global number one. Again.
Last edited by corporal klinger; 6th June 2024 at 03:22.