Hong Kong's hotels and restaurants suffered the most last year as the economy reeled from months of violent protests and even riots, official data showed.

A customer (L) sits in a restaurant where sheets of plastic hang to make sure people adhere to social distancing in Hong Kong on March 29, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Net output in the accommodation and food services plunged 23% from a year ago in the fourth quarter and dropped 9% for 2019 as a whole, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said Monday in a statement.

The declines appeared to be the largest among a wide range of service sectors that bore the major brunt of violent incidents in the second half of 2019, when visitors, the major driver of Hong Kong's consumption, were scared off.

The import and export, wholesale, and retail sales combined fell 8.3% in the fourth quarter and 6.2% in the whole year. The transportation, storage, postal, and courier services lost 7.7% in the fourth quarter and edged down 1.6% in 2019.

All the service sectors as a whole dropped 2.2% in the fourth quarter and 0.3% in 2019.

The statistics authority said the sharp fall in visitor arrivals, along with a global economic slowdown and trade tensions, took a heavy toll on retail business in Hong Kong last year. It also confirmed some preliminary figures, including a 2.9-percent and 1.2-percent drop in the GDP during the fourth quarter and the whole 2019, respectively.

Monday's data also showed that the total incomes of Hong Kong residents, excluded price changes, went down 3.3% from a year earlier in the fourth quarter and inched down 1.1% for the whole year.