Hong Kong expects 980,000 mainland visitors

Hong Kong expects about 980,000 mainland visitors during the May 1-5 Labour Day Golden Week, with border agencies preparing for one of the city’s busiest holiday stretches. (news.gov.hk) The Immigration Department said around 6 million passengers, including residents and visitors, are forecast to pass through Hong Kong’s sea, land and air control points over the five-day break. About 5 million of those trips are expected at land boundary crossings. (info.gov.hk) (news.gov.hk) Officials said Lo Wu would be the busiest crossing on May 1, with about 250,000 passengers, while Lok Ma Chau Spur Line is expected to handle about 220,000 and Shenzhen Bay about 170,000. Peak outbound traffic is forecast on May 3, when roughly 590,000 people are expected to leave Hong Kong. (info.gov.hk) The mainland visitor estimate is up 7% from the same holiday last year, according to government and public broadcaster reports. The Travel Industry Authority also expects about 770 inbound tour groups during the week. (scmp.com) (news.rthk.hk) Hong Kong started preparing weeks earlier. The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau convened the tourism sector, attractions, transport operators and government departments on April 2 to coordinate visitor flows and crowd management. (info.gov.hk) Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki chaired another interdepartmental meeting on April 20, telling departments to strengthen information sharing and contingency plans for transport, attractions and boundary control points. (news.gov.hk) Hotel operators are also bracing for the surge. RTHK reported that Sino Hotels said room rates were up by as much as 8% from a year earlier, while first-quarter hotel occupancy at its properties rose 5%. (news.rthk.hk) The broader backdrop is a stronger 2026 for inbound travel. Hong Kong had already received 7.23 million visitors by mid-February, up 9.6% from a year earlier, and tourism officials said they were targeting more than 50 million arrivals for the full year. (scmp.com 1) (scmp.com 2) For travelers, that means heavier queues at the main Shenzhen crossings, fuller hotels and tighter transport capacity starting Thursday, May 1. Hong Kong’s holiday test is whether border and transit systems can absorb the volume without the bottlenecks seen in past peak periods. (info.gov.hk)