Hong Kong was once a favourite luxury shopping destination for mainland Chinese visitors. This year, fewer visitors are not only making shorter trips to Hong Kong but spending less. But there is an exception, somewhat less glamorous than designer watches: insurance.

The Hong Kong insurance industry posted a 12.2 per cent increase in total gross premiums to $21.1bn in the first quarter of this year, according to provisional statistics released by the city’s Insurance Authority. Total revenue premiums of active policies increased by 14 per cent, mostly driven by individual life insurance and individual retirement annuity businesses which increased by nearly a fifth.

Mainland visitors are the driving force behind this increase, with insurance sales to this group up nearly two-thirds to $2bn in the first quarter.