Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went down by 11.8% year-on-year in April 2024, owing to a high base of comparison resulting from the timing of the Easter holiday which fell in March this year compared to April last year. Receipts of Western Restaurants dropped by 22.8% while those of Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops rose by 0.3%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers slipped by 32.3% year-on-year in April. All types of interviewed retailers registered a year-on-year decline in sales, with Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers recording the largest decrease (-44.6%) in sales.

In comparison with March, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dipped by 7.5% in April; receipts of Chinese Restaurants fell by 13.9% whereas those of Japanese & Korean Restaurants rose by 2.1%. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers went down by 12.4% month-on-month in April; sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers decreased by 21.7% whereas sales of Motor Vehicle Retailers grew by 13.2%.

As regards the business expectations for May, 33% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments forecasted a month-on-month increase in receipts, and the corresponding share for Chinese Restaurants reached 52%. On the other hand, about 17% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in May. For retail trade, 46% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales growth in May, with the corresponding shares for Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (70%), Leather Goods Retailers (57%), Department Stores (50%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (46%) being relatively high. By contrast, around 17% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales drop in May.

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 (57.7) and retail trade (64.5), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in May compared to April.

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.