HONG KONG’S financial chief urged landlords and property developers Friday to offer rent subsidies to retailers and food and beverage businesses suffering after months of protests have dented tourism and consumer spending.

The comments followed a similar call for relief for businesses by the city’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, last week. On Tuesday, Lam said the number of tourists to Hong Kong in the first week of October plummeted more than 50 percent from a year ago.

Official data last week showed Hong Kong’s August retail sales were the worst on record, falling 23 percent from a year earlier.

“We hereby urge landlords and property developers to actively consider launching rent reduction schemes to assist the retail sector during this severe time,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan told a news conference.

He said MTR Corp., which runs the city’s Metro system and is about 75 percent owned by the government, was offering rent adjustments to some small and medium-sized stores that had been affected.

Some in the industry have said that landlords are not doing enough to help ease the pain.

Annie Yau Tse, chairman of Hong Kong Retail Management Association, said “the most effective means would be to cut rents or provide retailers a sufficient rent-free period.”(SD-Agencies)