Earlier quoted context omitted.
peace and quiet... HK? Well, haters take their own shares. However HK cannot make money from peace and quiet to make it sustainable. According to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Hong_Kong#GDP[45] ), Tourism is 5% of the GDP and I believe a big chunk of that is contributed by people from mainland.
I highly doubt if it's only 5%. A mainlander goes to HK, buys Rolex and new iPhone. Wears the Rolex and switches to the new iPhone. Goes back to mainland without declaring anything. How do these numbers end up in official statistics for tourism? Or it could be the other way round: HK resident buys Rolex and iPhone, sells in mainland thus making money.
I’m sure these things can be tracked by analyzing the currency exchange patterns between HK and the mainland