However, residents made 1.1 million trips over the same three-day period, which is twice as many incoming trips. The four-day holiday is coming to an end, and as of 4pm on Tuesday, more than 310,000 people had arrived.
Tourism industry representatives said 183,674 mainland Chinese tourists arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday for the Lunar New Year fireworks display, compared to 102,154 the day before, indicating that festive events were a big draw for tourists. It was evaluated as being attractive.
“This clearly shows that mega-events can be a great help in attracting tourists and making them stay longer,” said Timothy Chew Ting-pung, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association.
He said the number of tour groups arriving from the mainland for holidays has already reached two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels.
About 200 couples visited Hong Kong every day during the holidays, up from about 300 couples each day in 2017 and 2018, he said on a radio show.
Restaurants prosper due to backlash from Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year, but one owner closes the restaurant
Restaurants prosper due to backlash from Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year, but one owner closes the restaurant
Mr Chui said hotels were also doing well, with many hotels reaching 90% occupancy, including hotels in surrounding areas such as Wenmen and Tsuen Wan, as well as particularly low-cost hotels.
Lee Karon, chairman of the Hong Kong Tourist and Hotel Association, told the program that occupancy rates at budget accommodations were up to 95%, and room rates ranged from HK$400 to HK$500 per night, below pre-pandemic levels. he said.
According to statistics from the Immigration Bureau, 543,722 people visited Japan over the past three days, of which 87% were from the mainland. This figure accounted for 75.8% of the 716,976 inbound trips in 2019 before the pandemic, and was slightly higher than the 540,993 in 2018.
That number plummeted to about 200 each year as coronavirus-related travel restrictions were implemented in 2021 and 2022.
Economist Simon Lee Siupo called the 76% figure “good, but not great.” He said tourism should be “back to normal” at this point, although the numbers are clearly a recovery from past years.
“We have to do better,” he said.
Mr Lee said the city was still “too expensive” for many mainland and international tourists, especially low-budget and middle-class travelers, adding that other nearby destinations like Japan were better. He said it offers “cost performance.”
“We suffer from fundamentally high operating costs and a strong Hong Kong dollar, which deters tourists from coming to Hong Kong,” he said.
Tens of thousands of worshipers gather at Hong Kong’s Che Gong Temple
Tens of thousands of worshipers gather at Hong Kong’s Che Gong Temple
According to the Immigration Bureau, as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, more than 593,000 people entered and left the country through checkpoints in the city. Of these, more than 285,000 were international travelers.
Luohu recorded the highest number of entries with more than 54,000 people.
Hong Kongers appear to have had little difficulty returning home via seven land border crossings. As of around 6:30 p.m., it took him less than 30 minutes to process at various checkpoints, according to real-time data on the new department’s mobile app.
Hong Kong is ‘trapped in the forest’, needs precise policies: Lunar New Year predictions
Hong Kong is ‘trapped in the forest’, needs precise policies: Lunar New Year predictions
According to checkpoint data, from the first day of Lunar New Year to Monday, the number of passengers and vehicles reached 310,000 and 41,000, respectively, an increase of 520% and 240% compared to the same holiday period in 2023. Shown. .
Of these, the total number of visitors to Japan reached 184,000, and the number of vehicles that entered Zhuhai Port reached 24,000.
338,000 people stunned by Chinese New Year fireworks in Hong Kong for the first time in five years
338,000 people stunned by Chinese New Year fireworks in Hong Kong for the first time in five years
Under the system introduced in July last year, the number of single-vehicle vehicles transported from Hong Kong exceeded 8,000 in a single day for the first time. The “Hong Kong Vehicle Northbound” system allows Hongkongers to drive into Guangdong province without mainland license plates.
The average number of visitors per day during the first three days of the Lunar New Year “Golden Week” holiday was 167,441, an increase of 226% compared to 2023.
