Times Square, the city's landmark shopping mall, received a whopping 170,000 customers each day during the Christmas-New Year holiday period, 15 percent up from the same time a year earlier.

"We received plenty of enquiries and positive response from mainland tourists, who appeared to be very eager shoppers," says Vernon Ma, promotion and advertising manager for Times Square.

High-end hotels in Hong Kong have received significantly more guests from the mainland in the last two years, says James Lu, executive director of the Hong Kong Hotels Association.

"Mainland tourists could be found only in three-star hotels or budget guest houses some years ago. However, in the last two or three years, an increasing number of them have been staying in the best hotels such as the Four Seasons and the Grand Hyatt," says Lu.

"Mainland visitors are definitely very important for Hong Kong's tourism. Their spending power will make a good contribution to Hong Kong," says Amy Lam, senior executive, corporate communications and public relations, HKTB.

"The Hong Kong Tourism Board attaches great importance to enriching mainland visitors' experience- and their satisfaction level. We'll continue to upgrade the quality of our services and promote our city's diverse attractions."

Helpful yuan

Hong Kong as a shopping destination will be more attractive with the renminbi gaining against the Hong Kong dollar.

"The temptation will be even greater as the yuan is getting stronger against the Hong Kong dollar, and mainland visitors can buy more with the same amount of money," says Tao Dong, chief economist at Credit Suisse (Hong Kong).

However, not all mainland tourists are happy with Hong Kong's shopping and entertainment environment.

Two reports on mainland tourists' unpleasant encounters in Hong Kong were nominated for the Top 10 news stories in the city for 2006.

Over 1,000 mainlanders went to visit Hong Kong Disneyland during the Lunar New Year holiday in January, with most of them booking ticket a few months earlier. But the theme park could not handle so many "unexpected" visitors and shut the door, leaving the cross-border tourists stranded.

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