Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dropped by 6.3% year-on-year in August 2022, with Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops and Western Restaurants recording respective decreases of 13.5% and 10.1%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 8.4% year-on-year in August, with notable rise in the sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (+50.5%) and Motor Vehicle Retailers (+47.4%); on the other hand, sales of Department Stores (-25.0%) showed a marked fall.

In comparison with July, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments surged by 159.5% in August as the local pandemic situation became stable. Receipts of Japanese & Korean Restaurants (+448.4%), Chinese Restaurants (+397.1%) and Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops (+149.9%) showed substantial growth. Besides, sales of the interviewed retailers leapt by 228.0% month-on-month in August, with sales of Leather Goods Retailers, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers and Motor Vehicle Retailers rocketing by 1,446.9%, 1,242.0% and 981.8% respectively; in contrast, only Supermarkets (-23.1%) recorded a decline.

As regards the business expectations for September, there were 52% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month in September; the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants both reached 59%. On the other hand, 15% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in September. Meanwhile, half of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales growth in September, with the corresponding shares for Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (70%), Leather Goods Retailers (60%), Department Stores (58%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (55%) exceeding 50%. By contrast, around 15% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales drop in September, and the corresponding proportion for Motor Vehicle Retailers was 55%.

The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-on-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was higher than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (68.6) and retail trade (67.9), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in September compared to August.

The sample of the Business Climate Survey on Restaurants & Similar Establishments and Retail Trade comprises 229 restaurants & similar establishments and 161 retailers, which accounted for 53.5% and 70.6% of the respective industry’s receipts in 2019. The Survey results were not extrapolated. The business performance in the reference month is reflected by the change in the receipts of the sampled establishments and retailers in the reference month as against the month of comparison. The value of the BOI ranges between 0 and 100; an index value above 50 implies that the industry has higher business expectations for the coming month as against the month of comparison, whereas an index value below 50 indicates the opposite.