Quarterly Business Receipts Indices for Service Industries for the Fourth Quarter of 2006 and the Entire 2006
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Since the issue of this press release (Quarterly Business Receipts Indices for Service Industries for the Fourth Quarter of 2006 and the Entire 2006) on 12 March 2007, the business receipts indices for Q1 and Q2 2006 for “financial markets and fund management services” and the relevant year-on-year and quarter-to-quarter percentage changes have been revised owing to availability of more accurate data. Details are given in Tables (R) (Tables (R) (Text format)).
Last updated on 11 June 2007
Business receipts in value terms of almost all surveyed service industries increased in 2006 over a year earlier, according to the provisional business receipts indices released today (March 12) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
Comparing 2006 with 2005, business receipts of the financing (except banking) industry surged by 47.9%, fuelled mainly by the buoyant local stock market.
Other service industries that recorded larger increases in business receipts included the insurance (+21.3%), banking (+19.6%), business services (+19.5%), hotels (+13.8%), transport (+10.6%), import and export trade (+10.1%) and storage (+10.1%).
Analysed by service domain, business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain and the computer and information services domain both increased, by 13.0% and 9.8% respectively.
Comparing the fourth quarter of 2006 with a year earlier, business receipts of all surveyed service industries increased. Larger increases were observed in the financing (except banking) (+58.3%), banking (+24.2%), business services (+17.9%), insurance (+15.9%), storage (+15.1%), hotels (+11.6%), restaurants (+11.1%) and import and export trade (+10.7%).
As regards service domain, business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain increased by 8.8% in the fourth quarter of 2006 over a year earlier, while that of the computer and information services domain increased slightly by 0.4%.
Comparing the fourth quarter of 2006 with the third quarter of 2006, and bearing in mind that this comparison might be affected by seasonal factors, business receipts of most service industries increased. Larger increases were observed in the financing (except banking) (+38.2%), hotels (+37.9%), banking (+21.0%) and insurance (+18.9%) industries.
Table 1 presents provisional business receipts indices for service industries and service domains for the fourth quarter of 2006, while Table 2 shows the time series of the business receipts indices for the recent five quarters. Business receipts indices for 2006 are also included.
Data for compiling the business receipts indices are mainly based on the Quarterly Survey of Service Industries conducted by the C&SD, supplemented by relevant data provided by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
A service domain differs from a service industry in that it comprises those economic activities straddling different industries but are somehow related to a common theme. It may include all activities carried out by all establishments in a service industry that is closely related to the domain. For a service industry that is less closely related, however, only a portion of the establishments in the industry or even only part of the economic activities of the establishments is related to the domain. Taking tourism as an example, it includes all activities of all hotels and travel agents; and some (those involving visitors as customers) but not all of the activities of restaurants, retailers and transport operators.
Details on the compilation method of the business receipts indices are given in the report "Quarterly Business Receipts Indices for Service Industries, Fourth Quarter 2006".
The publication is now available for downloading (in PDF format) free of charge at the "Statistical Bookstore, Hong Kong" (www.statisticalbookstore.gov.hk). The print version of the publication can be purchased in the following ways:
(i) Purchase in person at the Publications Unit of the C&SD (Address: 19/F, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai; Tel.: 2582 3025) at HK$11 per copy.
(ii) Complete a mail order form which is available for downloading from the website of C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/other_services/provision_of_stat/mail_ordering_of_publications/index.jsp) and return it to C&SD. Price (excluding postage) is the same as above.
(iii) Purchase online at the Statistical Bookstore or the Government Bookstore of the Information Services Department (www.isd.gov.hk/eng/bookorder.htm). Print versions if purchased online are offered a discount and are sold at 85% of their original prices. After discount, the price (excluding postage) of the publication is HK$9.4 per copy.
Enquiries about results of this survey can be directed to the Business Services Statistics Section of the C&SD at telephone number 2802 1269 or email address business-receipts@censtatd.gov.hk.
Ends/Monday, March 12, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:15
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