Hong Kong residents make almost 1 million outbound trips during Chung Yeung long weekend
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong residents logged almost 1 million outbound trips during the first two days of the three-day long weekend for Chung Yeung Festival, with most travellers heading to mainland China.
A total of 598,677 outbound trips were recorded by residents on Friday, a public holiday, and double that of the previous Friday, according to the Immigration Department. The city has a population of roughly 7.5 million.
Among those leaving Hong Kong, 89 per cent departed through various checkpoints on the border with Shenzhen and the express railway linking Hong Kong to multiple mainland Chinese cities.
On Saturday, the second day of the festival break, Hong Kong residents made 346,937 outbound trips, with nearly 90 per cent travelling through land crossings with mainland China.
The Transport Department on Saturday urged Hongkongers to plan their return journeys in advance and to travel outside peak periods as the authority anticipated a surge in inbound travel on Sunday, especially via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
To meet the travel needs of Hongkongers returning via border checkpoints, the MTR added 950 extra trips on Sunday.
Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong province have become popular destinations for Hongkongers since all Covid-19 restrictions were lifted early last year. Restaurant owners have said the trend is partly responsible for slow business in Hong Kong, with eateries in areas closest to the border suffering the most.
‘Heading to each other’
Responding to reporters’ questions about Hongkongers’ travel patterns, lawmaker and former chair of the city’s largest pro-Beijing party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong Starry Lee described the phenomenon as “normal.”
“Many mainland Chinese residents travel to Hong Kong, and sometimes we head north. It’s just normal,” Lee said in Cantonese, adding that a lot of mainland Chinese tourists had visited Hong Kong during the National Day holiday in early October.
Lee added the most important thing was that Hong Kong was doing its best to attract as many travellers from mainland China and overseas countries as possible.
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