Shoppers queue outside a LVHM Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE store on Canton Road during Labor Day holiday in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong, China, on Monday, May 1, 2023.

By Kari Lindberg, Ka Ho Cheuk and Danny Lee

(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong has struggled to regain its appeal as a global retail paradise since the city reopened this year, underscoring the damage caused by years of isolation to its $360 billion economy.

Tourists aren’t coming in the same numbers as they did before protests in 2019 and pandemic restrictions in the following years made Hong Kong a no-go zone. Visitor arrivals in June were 42% below the same month in 2018. The result is weak consumer spending. The value of retail sales that month were the lowest for any June since 2011, after stripping out 2019-2022 figures.

The picture is a markedly different one from last decade, when ever-rising numbers of mainland tourists crowded the city’s streets and clamored for luxury goods. In 2018, visitor arrivals totaled 65 million, up 11% from the previous year, putting Hong Kong among the most popular tourist destinations globally. That year the city held the crown for having the world’s most expensive retail district as international brands competed to get a slice of that spending, a title it’s since lost.