Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments and retailers recorded month-on-month growth in receipts in December 2024 on account of the Christmas holidays. Receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments grew by 5.7% month-on-month, with receipts of Western Restaurants, Japanese & Korean Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants rising by 12.4%, 8.8% and 7% respectively. Besides, sales of the interviewed retailers increased by 7.9% month-on-month in December; retailers of Motor Vehicles, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery, Adults’ Clothing and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles posted respective sales growth of 18.6%, 16.4%, 15.8% and 13.6%.
In comparison with December 2023, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments decreased by 5.6% in December 2024. Receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants dropped by 10.3% and 4.4% respectively, while those of Japanese & Korean Restaurants increased by 10.9%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers went down by 21.1% year-on-year in December; sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers, Leather Goods Retailers and Department Stores fell by 31.5%, 25.9% and 20.8% respectively, whereas those of Motor Vehicle Retailers rose by 36%.
As regards the business expectations for January 2025, there were 44% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month on the back of the Lunar New Year holidays; the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants were 64% and 32% respectively. On the other hand, about 17% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in January. For retail trade, 36% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales growth in January 2025. The corresponding shares for Department Stores and Leather Goods Retailers were 50% and 43% respectively. By contrast, around 20% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales drop in January.
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 (63.6) and retail trade (57.7), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in January 2025 compared to December 2024.
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.