Tens of thousands of Hongkongers were stuck for hours at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Christmas Day, as residents streamed out of the city’s border checkpoints for the holiday.
Police and rail giant the MTR Corporation also warned on Thursday morning that Shenzhen Bay, Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau spur line control points were crowded and that travellers should expect a longer time to cross the border.
The wave of outbound travel started on Christmas Eve on Wednesday, when the net outflow of people from the city through all checkpoints jumped almost 44 per cent to 298,085 compared with the same day last year, according to official statistics.
This year’s Christmas Day falls on Thursday and Boxing Day on Friday, forming a four-day long weekend.
A Post reporter at the Hong Kong port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge observed at around lunchtime that the departure hall was packed with tens of thousands of tourists and visitors, who waited at least 1½ hours in lines just to get on the border-crossing Gold Bus.
At the mainland China side in Luohu, crowds packed the entire open space outside the shopping centre connected to the checkpoint.
Many revellers were seen wearing red and white Christmas hats.
