Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went up by 35.7% year-on-year in October 2023; receipts of Western Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants grew by 69.7% and 52.1% respectively, whereas those of Japanese & Korean Restaurants dropped by 24.9%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 38.4% year-on-year in October, with relatively large growth in the sales of Department Stores (+58.5%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+52.1%), Leather Goods (+51.3%) and Adults' Clothing Retailers (+43.7%).

In comparison with September, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments increased by 2.9% year-on-year in October on account of the National Day holidays; receipts of Western Restaurants went up by 12.3%, while those of Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops edged down by 0.2%. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 17.6% month-on-month in October; Adults' Clothing Retailers and Department Stores reported respective sales growth of 32.2% and 22.4%, while Motor Vehicle Retailers recorded a 21.8% drop in sales.

As regards the business expectations for November, there were 46% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to decrease month-on-month after the National Day holidays; the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants were 56% and 41% respectively. On the other hand, about 12% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would increase month-on-month in November. For retail trade, 34% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales drop in November, and the corresponding shares for Department Stores, Motor Vehicle Retailers and Supermarkets were 50%, 46% and 44% respectively. By contrast, around 25% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales growth in November, and the corresponding proportions for Leather Goods Retailers and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers reached 60% and 55% respectively.

The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-on-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was lower than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (33.4) and retail trade (45.7), indicating that the respondents from both industries envisaged a less favourable business outlook in November compared to October.

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. As a panel sample of establishments is used in this Survey, the changes in receipts in the reference month as compared to the month of comparison serve as reference indicators of the business performance of restaurants & similar establishments and retailers. 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 reference month, whereas an index value below 50 indicates the opposite.