Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Once pundits described the wealth of Hong Kong as its streets being paved with gold. Today, it’s still not far from that. Corporations seeking the end of the rainbow for that pot of gold are now stopping at Hong Kong for their financial needs.
Now Hong Kong is not only the financial hub in Asia, but also in the world.
Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) during the past week have pushed Hong Kong to the forefront, with leading accountancy firms KPMG China and Deloitte both ranking Hong Kong first globally ahead of the NASDAQ, New York, Shanghai Stock exchanges and the National Stock Exchange of India (which topped the list last year).
Hong Kong is expected to list 80 new IPOs this year raising about HK$200 billion (US$25.5 billion). Last year it completed only 21 IPOs raising HK$5.8 billion (US$ 740 million).
An elated Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a packed financial audience in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday that the core of Hong Kong’s success was our values: - openness, diversity, international character and global connectivity. Under the ‘one country, two systems’ governing framework, Hong Kong preserves its free port status, along with the free flow of capital, information, goods and talent.
And while Chan was wooing potential investors in Seoul, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had its busiest day of the year when five mainland companies made their trading debuts simultaneously. The five debutants raised HK$10.4 billion (US$11.32 billion) from their IPOs, adding to several jumbo-sized deals made already this year.
Winner of the day was Shanghai-listed semiconductor chip designer Fortior Technology which raised HK$2.26 billion (US$287 million) in its offering.
Wednesday was also the fifth trading session of 2025 where multiple companies went public on the same day in Hong Kong.
Deloitte noted that Hong Kong would see around HK$102.1 billion(US$13billion) raised from 40 IPOs between January and June, which represents a 33 percent increase year on year in terms of number of deals and six to seven times more in terms of size.
The strong performance was boosted by four mega mainland listings from Shanghai and Shenzhen, including that of battery giant CATL, which raised HK$41 billion in capital in Hong Kong, as well as bubble tea chain Mixue that raised HK$34.5 billion.
But Hong Kong doesn’t stop at just raising money, it also helps companies physically set-up shop here to tap mainland and regional markets.
Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), a government agency designed to assist new startups, has assisted more than 1,300 overseas and mainland companies to set up or expand their business in Hong Kong from January 2023 to the first six months of 2025, bringing in foreign direct investment of more than HK$168 billion (US$21.4billion). These startups created more than 19,000 jobs within the first year of operation or expansion, contributing to the local job market and reaffirming Hong Kong's position as a leading business hub in Asia.
The top five sectors boosting their presence in Hong Kong are financial services and fintech, innovation and technology, family offices, tourism and hospitality and business and professional services.
Director General of InvestHK, Ms Alpha Lau said the agency also assists mainland companies to go global via Hong Kong and further promote Hong Kong's advantages as a regional trade and high-end logistics hub. “We will continue to leverage Hong Kong's role as a two-way springboard for mainland and overseas companies to connect between our country and the rest of the world under the 'one country, two systems' principle," she said.
The story of Hong Kong is one of tremendous efficiency with virtually unlimited resources. When wrapping up his talk in Seoul, Chan left his audience with these priceless gems: Hong Kong has no dividend tax, no capital gains tax, a low profits tax at only 16.5 per cent, trading in multiple currencies, including HKD, USD and RMB, and trading hours aligned with the Asian time zone. What could be a better place to do business?
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Hong Kong is facing a dilemma as more locals are spending their dollars outside of the city than what the visitors are bringing in.
Relaxed visa/permit restrictions for locals and foreign residents alike is making it easier for travel to the mainland while inbound traffic crossing the boundary is low budget and spending less on accommodation and food.
Tourism is an important pillar for Hong Kong’s economy. In pre-COVID times, tourism accounted for about four per cent of the territory’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided for about six per cent of total employment.
In Hong Kong’s heydays, the city saw about 65 million tourists in 2018, of which 51 million came from the mainland. It was boom time for retailers and restaurants. Long queues of mainland shoppers would line the streets along Canton Road and elsewhere waiting to buy luxury items from Gucci, Prada, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores which set up shop in Hong Kong to tap this lucrative market.
Today many restaurants and retail outlets are closing down, especially in the boundary towns of Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. The market is no longer there, and high rental costs make it almost impossible to survive.
During the 2025/2026 festive season, Hong Kong saw a 25.6 per cent rise in inbound trips on New Year’s Day 2026 (664,338 trips), but this was still countered by a massive 515,954 outbound exits on the same day.
Winston Yeung, chair of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told local media that business was sluggish during the Christmas holiday, with some restaurant owners calling it “the slowest business at Christmas over the past 10 years.”
Unfortunately, the local market is not propping up the tourism outlets. Instead, the locals are traveling in large numbers to Shenzhen and Macau and other parts of China for day trips or extended holidays, thereby providing a leakage in the local economy.
While Hong Kong received more than an estimated 45 million visitors last year, more than about 100 million departures were recorded by the Immigration Department of locals leaving Hong Kong by plane, train or bus mainly to the mainland (75 per cent), and to other major Asian destinations.
Hong Kong has 320 hotels offering 92,907 rooms, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Despite mainlanders’ choice of more budget accommodation, occupancy rates for the hotel industry remained high at 88 per cent last year. The major hotels are not affected by the change in mainlanders’ preferences as they rely more on the affluent international tourist, visiting Hong Kong for business, conventions or holidays.
Property developer, Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) says Hong Kong’s hospitality market currently presents various investment-ready assets including rare investment opportunities for upper upscale and luxury hotels. These high-end properties are particularly attractive due to their resilience, as they are less reliant on Chinese group travelers and enjoy sustained spending power among affluent individual travelers and international visitors. This makes them attractive for investors seeking stable returns in a dynamic market.
To encourage locals to spend more at home and at the same time provide a bonus for tourists, Hong Kong has organised a series of mega events, many held in the new sports stadium on the site of the old Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Traditional events in 2026 will include the French May Arts festival in March, Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Hong Kong performing Arts Expo in October, the World Snooker Grand Prix in February, and, of course, the international dragon boat races in June.
Blockbusters will include BlackPink World tour in January, the Hong Kong marathon, which draws in runners and their supports from around the world, and the Hong Kong Tennis Open also in January.
That is good for the inbound and outbound tourists alike. But more needs to be done to tip the tourism scales to a surplus for Hong Kong’s economy to grow at a faster pace. As the saying goes charity starts at home, so it is up to us as local residents who have reaped the benefits of the city to spend more in local restaurants and retail outlets than spend it elsewhere. Support local enterprises. After all, the restaurants in Hong Kong are ranked among the best in the world and are tax free as against a value-added tax applied to restaurants and shops in the mainland.
