Hong Kong expects 980,000 mainland visitors

Hong Kong expects about 980,000 mainland Chinese visitor trips during the May 1-5 Labour Day Golden Week holiday, and officials are preparing for roughly six million passenger movements. (info.gov.hk) (scmp.com) The Immigration Department said land boundary crossings alone could handle about five million passengers over the five days. It expects the heaviest traffic on May 2 and May 3. (info.gov.hk) Officials said Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau Spur Line and Shenzhen Bay will be the busiest checkpoints, with daily averages of about 246,000, 227,000 and 172,000 passengers. (info.gov.hk) To keep lines moving, Hong Kong has cut leave for frontline immigration officers, opened extra counters and temporary channels, and set up a joint command centre with police, customs and MTR staff at Lo Wu. (info.gov.hk) The government began its wider holiday planning a week earlier, saying the 980,000 mainland trips would be about 7% above last year’s Labour Day break. Official data put last year’s comparable total at about 919,000 trips. (scmp.com) The travel trade is also bracing for organized groups. Industry estimates cited by the government put inbound mainland tour groups at about 770 during the holiday. (scmp.com) Hotel operators say the rush is already showing up in bookings and prices. Alan Chan of Miramar Group said the company’s hotels in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui were at 95% capacity, with average stays of three days. (news.rthk.hk) Chan said room prices at those hotels were up 5% to 8% from a year earlier. He also said many mainland travelers were choosing Hong Kong instead of Japan, while others were routing onward to Southeast Asia through the city. (news.rthk.hk) Hong Kong is also leaning on transport fixes around the peak. Shuttle buses at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and Lok Ma Chau crossings are due to run more frequently, and cross-boundary coach quotas are being increased. (scmp.com) The city’s message before the holiday starts on Thursday is simple: more visitors are coming, the land border will do most of the work, and hotels near core shopping districts are already close to full. (info.gov.hk) (news.rthk.hk)