But some residents said they hoped such discounts could be offered more frequently, or turned into more “practical” cash incentives to boost local spending.
“If you cannot lure tourists to come, then you should boost local consumption and make residents spend more, rather than just having these one-off offers to please the central government on this day,” 72-year-old Tam Kwok-wai said.
The part-time taxi driver was among more than 30 patrons who went to Tai Hing’s Causeway Bay branch to enjoy its 29 per cent discount deal.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, deputy justice minister Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai visited Bowrington Cooked Food Centre in Wan Chai to enjoy local delicacies, also at a 29 per cent discount.
The trio ordered Cantonese-style roast meats, marinated pork trotters and tripe, as well as mutton curry, while taking the time to encourage the public to capitalise on the various holiday deals.
The two museums are offering free entry to celebrate the handover anniversary. General admission normally costs about HK$120 (US$15.40) for adults and concessionary passes HK$60.
Hugo Pang, who visited M+ with his family, described the place as “very crowded”.
“It’s fortunate that the museum has prepared [stacks of foldable chairs] for visitors. I think they anticipated the large crowds,” he said.
“The most important thing is that people enjoy the time they spend with their [loved ones] with the [freebies] provided.”
The Post found all of the Palace Museum’s free entry tickets had been snapped up by 11.30am, meaning other visitors would have to pay for admission.
Marilyn Pimentel, a foreign domestic helper, said details for the special entry arrangements were not clear enough, noting the free passes had run out by the time she arrived at the museum at 2.30pm.
A museum employee said some elderly residents were unable to enter for free and had been unaware of the need to register online beforehand.
The anniversary celebration also allows children aged three to 11 to enjoy free train rides, while tram rides are available to the public at no cost.
Despite the promotions on offer, marketing employee Ma Wei-ling said the special offers were not generous enough, pointing out that some restaurants only offered discounts for one menu item.
The 50-year-old also reflected on the changes since the handover, saying that while the shift in the political environment since 2019 had not affected her personally, some of her friends had left the city in recent years.
“If you follow politics, you’ll start to feel a lack of freedom, and I see a lot of people around me moving to countries such as the UK or Canada for that reason,” she said.
Another star attraction of the July 1 celebrations was a fishing boat parade along Victoria Harbour that saw a 27-strong fleet sail twice between Stonecutters Island and North Point.
Along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, a group of about a dozen runners was also seen jogging along the path as they waved national flags.
The Just Runners group said it had marked every July 1 and National Day, which falls on October 1, since 2018 by running from Kennedy Town to North Point, and then going from Hung Hom to Tsim Sha Tsui.
“This is a day we can all speak up about our patriotism.”
Tang said that when he first started running with the group, he felt that expressing patriotism in Hong Kong was “risky”, but now the “pendulum has swung to the other side”.
“Now there may be too many patriotic voices. I don’t like things that are too one-sided,” he said.
Pro-Beijing groups also banded together to mark the handover with a carnival at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, including a massive Chinese chess set and a 27th handover anniversary statue set up in the middle of the park.
While entry is free, the Post observed few visitors at the event in the first three hours after its opening. Some fairgoers said the venue was “quite deserted”.
At around noon, several dozen police officers were seen patrolling the near-empty fair.
The park used to be a starting point for an annual July 1 march by the city’s now-dismantled opposition bloc that first took place in 2003. Police banned the demonstration in 2020, citing Covid-19 social-distancing restrictions.
No groups had applied to hold the demonstration this year.
Additional reporting by Oscar Liu and Ezra Cheung
