Cheng Wong
More mainland travelers are expected to visit Hong Kong during the upcoming Labour Day holiday as a tourism sector representative noted that promotional efforts have been effective, especially on social media.
Hong Kong Tourism Association executive director Timothy Chui Ting-pong told The Standard that northbound travel during the May 1 holiday is not expected to be as significant as during the Easter holiday as it is only a one-day public holiday in Hong Kong, with school exams also approaching.
Chui expects Hong Kong to embrace a busy golden week with an influx of mainland travelers as the city’s tourism promotions bear fruit and border controls normalize.
Easter saw an “exodus” of residents, with approximately 2.22 million departures made over four days, an increase of 180,000 compared to the same period last year. In contrast, there were only about 400,000 mainland and foreign arrivals, resulting in a “travel deficit.”
Traffic peaked on the final day of the long break as northbound vehicles returned to the city. At 5.30pm yesterday, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge checkpoint reported a 500-meter vehicle backlog, with border-crossing wait times stretching up to 40 minutes.
According to Immigration Department data, as of 9pm yesterday, there were over 957,000 crossings recorded, with inbound travelers exceeding 631,000, some 86 percent of which are Hongkongers.
Economist Simon Lee Siu-po said the ongoing trade war has weakened the yuan, making products appear cheaper for Hongkongers to shop in the mainland.
Despite the Easter “travel deficit,” Hong Kong saw a rise of 56,000 visits compared to the same period last year, with visits from other regions rising by 26,000 – an almost 30 percent annual increase.
Lee attributed this to effective overseas promotion by the government and the Hong Kong Tourism Board, as well as lower global airfare prices.
