Hong Kong's tourism industry will continue to face downward pressure, a report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicted on Monday.
Tourism number shave been sagging in recent months, a problem the report attributed largely to political wrangling.
The academy said incidents such as the Occupy Central movement and anti-parallel-trading campaign had marred the city's reputation.
At the same time, it said the policy change from multi-entry visas to one visit per week for Shenzhen residents, and a favorable currency exchange rate in South Korea and Japan, also contributed to the loss of visitors.
Another recent report by the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Employees General Union, said the total number of tourist groups visiting Hong Kong in the first three months of this year was 11,665, a sharp decrease from the 28,676 in the same period last year.
Tourism industry lawmaker Yiu Si-wing agreed with the analysis. He said such impacts are the result of rounds of campaigns in the city, which date to the first "anti-locust" campaign of 2013 in which protesters humiliated mainland visitors in major tourism districts.
Yiu said visitor numbers dropped after the anti-parallel-trader campaign in February last year. Later came the change of one visit per week scheme in Shenzhen, and the number dropped more, he said.
The industry saw a recovery in subsequent months until a mainland tourist was beaten to death by four men while shopping at a jewelry store in Hung Hom, Kowloon.
Another round of recovery lasted until the Mong Kok unrest, Yiu said, pointing to a correlation between politically motivated incidents and the rise and fall in visitors.
In 2015, the number of inbound tourists to Hong Kong stood at 59.3 million, of which 45.8 million were from the mainland.
Hong Kong's image as a hospitable city has been hurt, making it less attractive to tourists, said Lam Chi-ting, the union's general secretary. He urged radical activists to stop their activities and let the city rebuild its reputation.
