How Hong Kong's Political Unrest Affected Restaurants

How Hong Kong's Political Unrest Affected Restaurants

Over the past two months, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong have occupied a significant portion of the city’s central business district. While the number of protesters has been lower in recent weeks, the demonstrations continue to have an impact on Hong Kong’s economy.
Why should U.S. cattlemen care? With a strong finish, Hong Kong could be a $1 billion market for U.S. beef for the first time in 2014.
Senior Vice President of U.S. Meat Export Federation for the Asia Pacific region and long time resident of Hong Kong Joel Haggard has been monitoring the impact on the city’s restaurant sector. He shares
Haggard: “This political turmoil has been almost unprecedented in terms of the numbers of people and the longevity of it. The protest started out pretty large and pretty big impact to the business including restaurants in the areas where the students were located. The numbers are dwindling and business has come back a little bit. Still everyone on a bigger level is wondering how this will be resolved. That remains unknown at this point but businesses are watching to see if this type of event can be controlled and not get to a point where it creates a major impact on the overall business climate. Businesses like stability. This is a situation where the protesters really did take over major traffic arteries and parts of the central business district. And although it was peaceful, it did have an impact.”

 

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