July tourist arrivals jump about 75 times yy
July jewellery, watch sales up 19.8 yy vs June39;s 64.4 growth
Government sees retail to benefit from inbound tourism revival

HONG KONG, Aug 31 Reuters Hong Kong39;s July retail sales rose 16.5 from a year earlier in the eighth consecutive month of growth helped by an increase in visitor arrivals and positive consumption sentiment, the city government said on Thursday.

Sales increased to HK33 billion 4.21 billion. That compared with a revised 19.5 rise in June and 18.5 growth in May.

The revival in inbound tourism should continue to benefit the retail sector in the coming months, a government spokesperson said. Improved labour market conditions and the government39;s various measures to support consumption should also help.

In volume terms, retail sales increased 14 yearonyear in July. That compared with a revised 17.4 growth in June and 16.6 growth in May.

However, the city39;s economic growth slowed to 1.5 in the second quarter from a year ago, and compared with 2.9 growth in the first quarter. The government has revised its growth forecast for this year to 4.0 to 5.0 from a range of 3.55.5 earlier.

Preliminary visitor arrivals for July were 3.59 million, bringing the total for the first seven month of 2023 to 16.47 million visitors, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board data, compared with 124,052 in the JanuaryJuly period in 2022 and 48,048 in July last year.

Among the arrivals, the number of mainland Chinese…