Mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong used to flaunt Hermes handbags in shopping malls for social media photos. These days, the most popular kind of post is a tourist holding a McDonald’s takeout bag on a quiet street in the city’s Mid-Levels district, named MacDonnell Road.
Hong Kong is welcoming a new kind of post-pandemic Chinese tourist, who instead of splurging on luxury items now opts for more low-key activities. Getting their cues from influencers on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like app, many take selfies on streets with quirky names or dense residential complexes, while others pose outside a police station that has been prominently featured in classic Hong Kong movies.
The changes in travel habits, brought on by a younger generation of social media users, comes as the Chinese economy weakens, with younger people in particular adjusting their consumption patterns as youth unemployment remains high. Consumers across the country traveled and spent less than expected during the recent Golden Week holiday.