HONG KONG - Hong Kong retail sales fell 8.8% in October from a year earlier as the coronavirus outbreak kept tourists away, but the decline was smaller than in September as the new wave of the pandemic locally abated.

Sales dropped to HK$27.4 billion ($3.53 billion), government data showed on Tuesday, the 21st consecutive month of decline. The drop compares with a revised 12.8% decline in September.

In volume terms, retail sales in October fell 9.3%, compared with a revised 13.3% fall in the previous month.

($1 = 7.7524 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Twinnie Siu and Donny Kwok; Editing by Andrew Heavens) ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6470; Reuters Messaging: donny.kwok.reuters.com@reuters.net))