Hong Kong Elderly Commission will host Hong Kong's first "silver-hair fair" in an effort to encourage businesses to tap into the growing grey market.

Commission chairman Leong Che-hung said that in a decade, Hong Kong will have more than a million elderly people, most with spending power.

Dr. Leong, who suggested the fair last year when he joined the commission, said they are now in their mid-50s and are chief executives, senior civil servants and bureau chiefs with big spending power.

He said the elderly market is big. In the US, spending by the elderly increased by three times in the 1990s. Half of all new cars sold were purchased by people aged 50 and above.

A similar trend is occurring in Hong Kong, he said, where, in 20 years' time, one in four people will be 65 or above, most of them in good health.

The Silver Hair Market Fair Exhibition, to be held on November 18 and 19 at the Science Museum, is also aimed at changing public perceptions of the elderly.

Commission vice-chairman Alfred Chan Cheung-ming, who has conducted ageing studies, said a survey by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service showed that local elderly people collectively spent an average of one billion HK dollars a month.

He said as businesses started to value elderly people as a profitable market, it would help reduce the social stigma surrounding ageing.

Liang Tao, CRI News, Hong Kong