Shop vox-pop: Acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang chats with a shop assistant at the Landmark North mall.

The Mainland visitor surge since the implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme is benefiting not only traditional tourist areas but also general retail business.

This was the message from Acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang in North District today. He visited the Landmark North, the largest shopping mall in Sheung Shui and came across Mainland tourists in town for the Labour Day Golden Week holiday. He learned that about a third of the mall's 70,000 to 80,000 daily patrons are Mainlanders.

Mr Tsang then visited the Women's Development Association Rita Liu Multi-Services Centre at Sheung Shui's Choi Yuen Estate which runs retraining programmes funded by the Employees Retraining Board to help jobless people aged 30 or more.

He then headed to Luen Wo Hui in Fanling to chat with residents before seeing the Children & Youth Services Fanling Integrated Services Centre which provides after-school care and organises interest groups and development courses. It also employs Form 3 graduates as assistants to social workers under a Youth Ambassadors Programme subsidised by the Government.

"I am sure on-the-job training of this kind will put graduates in an advantageous position in the job market. We need the concerted efforts of various parties to nurture our younger generation to play a contributory role in society," Mr Tsang said.

On his return journey, Mr Tsang joined commuters on the West Rail from Kam Sheung Road Station to Nam Cheong Station.