Hong Kong's main retailing group on Monday warned the number of shop closures and staff layoffs in the coming six months could be the "worst ever," as more than 5,600 retail jobs could be lost as prolonged and often violent protests triggered a slump in tourists. 

The Hong Kong Retail Management Association (HKRMA) survey showed as many as 97 percent of its members have reported losses since June. Cautioning that if the business environment doesn't improve, around 30 percent of respondents plan to layoff on average 10 percent of their workforce over the next six months, while 11 percent intend to shutter shops.

"The wave of layoffs and store shutdowns could be the worst in recorded history," said Annie Yau Tse, chairwoman of HKRMA.

HKRMA represents more than 8,000 retail outlets employing over half of the local retail workforce, a majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises.

The poll was conducted on 176 retailers from October 29 to November 22, covering 4,310 stores and 89,700 employees.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board figures showed that visitor arrivals plunged by a whopping 43.7 percent year-on-year in October to 3.31 million. The city is normally a top destination for Chinese mainland shoppers.

In the same month, Hong Kong's retail sales contracted 24.3 percent to 30.1 billion Hong Kong dollars from a year earlier, the ninth consecutive month of decline and the fourth month of double-digit decline, the government data showed.

Earlier this month, the city's biggest cosmetics retailer, Sa Sa International, announced plans to close all of its 22 stores in Singapore to save costs as it struggles to stem months of protests, and the China-U.S. trade war.

Since August, the special administrative region's government has unveiled three rounds of economic relief measures amounting to 20 billion Hong Kong dollars. Earlier this month, the city introduced measures worth a total of 4 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 511 million U.S. dollars) aiming to help businesses and residents weather economic hardships.