Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went up by 38.5% year-on-year in November 2023; receipts of Western Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants surged by 74.7% and 52.5% respectively, whereas those of Japanese & Korean Restaurants dropped by 22.1%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 45.7% year-on-year in November. All types of interviewed retailers registered a year-on-year increase in sales, with significant growth in the sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (+78.2%), Department Stores (+73.9%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (+65.8%) and Leather Goods Retailers (+58.4%).
In comparison with October, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went down by 7.2% in November after the National Day holidays. All types of interviewed establishments registered a decrease in receipts, with receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants falling by 9.7% and 5.5% respectively. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers fell by 12.0% month-on-month in November; retailers of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery and Adults' Clothing reported sales drop of 17.2% and 12.3% respectively, while only Motor Vehicle Retailers recorded a growth of 30.4% in sales.
As regards the business expectations for December, there were 42% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month on account of the Christmas holidays; the corresponding shares for Western Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants reached 56% and 53% respectively. On the other hand, about 14% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in December. For retail trade, half of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales rise in December, with the corresponding shares for Leather Goods Retailers (80%), Department Stores (67%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (64%) exceeding 60%. By contrast, around 15% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales drop in December, and the corresponding proportions for Motor Vehicle Retailers and Supermarkets were 36% and 33% respectively.
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 (64.1) and retail trade (67.6), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in December compared to November.
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.