After two years of continuous year-on-year declines, retail sales in Hong Kong during the month of March across all categories rebounded into positive territory, registering a rise of 3.1% in value terms and 2.7% in volume terms, according to statistics released recently by the HK government. Provisional estimates put the sales at $35.73 billion during the month, bringing to an end 24 consecutive months of declining retail sales.

However, cumulative sales for the period Jan-March 2017 continued in negative territory, being 1.3% in value terms and 1.7% in volume terms lower than the respective figures for Jan-March 2016.

Sales in the category “Jewellery, Watches and Clocks, and Valuable Gifts” registered an 8.4% growth in value and an 8.3% growth in volume during March, though for the cumulative total for the first three months of 2017, sales volume are still 1.4% below the comparative figure for a year earlier, while sales value is up by a similar 1.4%.

A government statement said that the “moderate year-on-year growth” in retail sales in March partly reflected “the continued recovery of visitor arrivals and partly the robust local consumption demand”.

According to media reports based on data from the Tourism Board, tourist arrivals into Hong Kong from Mainland China rose 10.4% in March as compared to a year earlier, the highest rise since February 2015.

Analysts also cautioned that this should not be seen as a “big recovery” as the dollar was still strong and HK’s is still not seen as an attractive tourist destination.