Hong Kong's retail sales rose 2.4% year on year to HK$21.4 billion in September, according to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department on Monday.

The region's retail sales saw a slight year-on-year rise in September after declining for seven consecutive months, due to improvement in local consumer spending and to recovery in inbound tourism.

The city's retail sales were up 1% year on year in September, if price changes are taken into account.

In September, retail sales volume of fuel surged 11.6% year on year, while that of electric appliances and photographic equipment and materials increased 8.3% from a year. There was 5.9% year-on-year growth in sales volume of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco.

However, retail sales volume of autos and auto parts fell 7.8% year on year and that of garments and supermarket goods decreased 5.6% and 3%, respectively.

During the first nine months of this year, total retail sales dropped 3.4% in value and 4.2% in volume compared with the same period of last year.