How have the hobbies of Hongkongers changed due to isolation?

COVID-19 has forced most of the Hongkongers to stay at home. The shutdown of points of interest, workplaces, schools, and universities has made a colossal difference in our daily lives.
Picodi.com Analysis Team investigated Google search queries and created a ranking of the activities which gained the biggest popularity in the times of pandemic.

Trapped at home

We took a closer look at the most popular hobbies and activities, such as cinema, books, games, and many others. We checked the frequency of search queries connected to these activities between March and December 2020 and compared them with the previous year.

After evaluating statistics, it turned out that all activities that require leaving home have become less popular: movie theaters dropped by 64 per cent, concerts — 58 per cent, theaters — 36 per cent. Hongkongers also lost interest in photography (16 per cent) and foreign languages (decrease of 7 per cent). Probably it’s no longer such a sought-after ability in the world of closed borders.

The biggest increase of interest was noted in home gym (344 per cent), TV series (79 per cent), and video games (58 per cent).

Online courses, such as Udemy, placed fourth with a 54 per cent increase. There is a possibility that the uncertain situation in the labour market has made Internet users seek opportunities to gain additional qualifications. Various creative activities and crafts, like needlework (24 per cent) or drawing (16 per cent) have also gained popularity.

Among activities which increased by a relatively slow margin is dancing (3 per cent) and knitting (4 per cent).

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Methodology

The research is based on the changes in the popularity of various keywords in March-December 2020 compared with the previous year, according to Google archival data (through Google Trends).

Public Use

Feel free to use all the data and infographics presented in this report for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, please contact us: research@picodi.com.