Business receipts in value terms of more than half of major service industries showed increases of different magnitudes in the fourth quarter of 2011 when compared with the same period of 2010, according to the provisional figures of business receipts indices released Friday by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) of Hong Kong's city government.

According to the figure, business receipts of the retail was recorded the highest increase at 23 percent, following the accommodation services, adding 13.7 percent, and wholesale industries up 12.8 percent.

Other major service industries that recorded apparent increases in business receipts included the courier (up 8.7 percent); administrative and support services (up 7.9 percent); information and communications (7.9 percent); and food services (up 7.4 percent) industries.

On the other hand, the financing (except banking) industry recorded a significant year-on-year decrease of 21.6 percent in business receipts in the fourth quarter of 2011, continued to be affected by the European debt problems. During the same period, the real estate industry registered a year-on-year decline of 10.4 percent in business receipts, mainly due to the consolidation of local residential property market.

According to the department, for 2011 as a whole, most major service industries recorded year-on-year increases in business receipts. More notable increases in business receipts were recorded in the retail (up 24.9 percent); accommodation services (up 19.5 percent); and courier (up 17.3 percent) industries.

In addition, real estate industries recorded mild decreases in business receipts of 2.0 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

Analyzed by service domain, business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain in 2011 increased considerably by 22.2 percent over a year earlier, and those of the computer and information technology services domain increased by 10.4 percent.