Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went down by 9.4% month-on-month in September 2024 after the summer holiday; receipts of Chinese Restaurants fell by 10.1% whereas those of Japanese & Korean Restaurants rose by 0.6%. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers decreased by 16.5% month-on-month in September; sales of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers, Leather Goods Retailers and Department Stores dropped by 28.7%, 23.9% and 22.3% respectively, while the sales of Motor Vehicle Retailers grew by 30.4%.

In comparison with September 2023, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dipped by 5.5% in September 2024; receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops fell by 13.4% and 3.9% respectively, while receipts of Japanese & Korean Restaurants rose by 15.5%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers slipped by 20.7% year-on-year in September; sales of retailers of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery, Leather Goods and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles dropped by 37.5%, 25.4% and 21.1% respectively, while the sales of Motor Vehicle Retailers grew by 1.9%.

As regards the business expectations for October, there were 42% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month on account of the National Day holidays, and the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants reached 55% and 48% respectively. On the other hand, about 14% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in October. For retail trade, 48% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales growth in October, with the corresponding shares for Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (70%), Department Stores (63%), Leather Goods Retailers (57%) and Adults' Clothing Retailers (54%) exceeding 50%. By contrast, around 16% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales decline in October.

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 (64.3) and retail trade (66.4), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in October compared to September.

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.