Bob was right to start with Hong Kong.

Hong Kong (CNN) -- In the neon canyons of Hong Kong's Tsim Tsa Tsui -- Hong Kong's main urban shopping precinct -- the proliferation of one type of shop has cropped up along its bustling streets in recent years. Slotted in between the malls and luxury brand boutiques, the shops open onto the street and are bathed in a harsh fluorescent light. Inside, they sell a limited and identical range of dried goods, off-the-shelf pharmaceuticals, dried baby formula -- and very little else. "Most of our customers are mainland Chinese," said one shop employee, who requested anonymity, as he frantically tapped data into the shop's computer. "I don't know how many we get through here a day -- a lot." For some local Hong Kongers, the shops represent an assault on the amenity of the city and highlight an economy geared increasingly to the needs of cashed-up Chinese day-trippers, rather than local people. "The truth is that most mainlanders who come are not real tourists," columnist and TV show host Michael Chugani wrote recently in an opinion piece for the South China Morning Post. "They are grocery shoppers. Hong Kongers have to compete with them not only for daily necessities but also for space on the MTR (mass transit system), in restaurants and shopping malls." Increasing visitor numbers For Hong Kong locals this is not about to change any time soon. Hong Kong takes aim at mainland moms Hong Kong: A gateway to China Hong Kong journalists protest censorship Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung predicted visitor numbers to Hong Kong would jump from last year's 54.5 million to 70 million in three years, the bulk of whom will be mainlanders. The figure, he said, is likely to climb to 100 million by 2023. Last month, about 100 radical Hong Kongers descended on Tsim Tsa Tsui to protest against the growing phenomenon, waving placards describing mainland shoppers as "locusts," hurling abuse at Chinese tourists and scuffling with police. Demonstrators staged a follow-up protest at the nearby Mongkok shopping precinct in Kowloon the following weekend, wheeling suitcases (viewed as a ubiquitous accessory for mainland Chinese shoppers), causing congestion outside shops by faking "shopping fatigue" and yelling "I have come to buy baby milk powder" in fractured Mandarin at visitors.