Hong Kong sees almost 25 percent decrease in sales

Reuters has reported that Hong Kong has seen a 24.1 percent decrease in retail sales amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The health crisis already made things worse for a market that was already struggling thanks to months of anti-government protests. Tourist traffic, which helped drive retail sales, continue to be on the decline in Hong Kong, and likely will not pick up again for a considerable amount of time.

January marked the 12 consecutive month of retail sales declines in Hong Kong, with sales dropping to 4.86 billion dollars. This marks the longest downward trajectory for Hong Kong's retail sales in three years.

The Hong Kong tourism board says that average daily traffic to Hong Kong plummeted to 3000 people. Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that is a 99 percent decrease from tourism traffic one year ago.