Mainland Chinese visitors made more than 400,000 trips to Hong Kong during the past three days before the start of the Lunar New Year “golden week” holiday, a third of the 1.2 million outbound journeys that city residents embarked on over the same period.
A representative for a developer said on Tuesday that several shopping centres could anticipate double-digit growth in foot traffic and a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in sales during the holiday, attributing the surge to the resumption of multiple-entry visas for Shenzhen residents visiting the city.
According to official figures, the number of trips made by mainlanders between Saturday and Monday reached 419,072, accounting for 80 per cent of the visitor turnout that stood at 524,489. Hongkongers, meanwhile, made 1.16 million outbound trips during the same period.
The mainland’s “golden week” holiday will run from January 28 to February 4.
The Hong Kong government estimated earlier that the city would welcome 1.4 million mainland visitors over the Lunar New Year period, about 14 per cent more than in 2024.
Fung Wing-yan, Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency’s leasing department promotion manager, said peak foot traffic was expected on Thursday and Friday, the second and third days of Lunar New Year, at shopping centres managed by the company, including APM in Kwun Tong and IFC Mall in Central.
