Hong Kong won’t extend open hours at borders during Lunar New Year holiday
Chief Secretary Eric Chan promises the government will ensure visitors have a smooth experience in the city
Hong Kong border checkpoints will not operate beyond working hours during the Lunar New Year period, authorities have said, calling on tourists to plan ahead and stay overnight in the city.
Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, who chaired an interdepartmental working group on festival arrangements, also promised on Wednesday that the government would ensure visitors had a smooth experience as a “notable increase” in the number of tourists was expected over the holiday.
About 8.67 million people – Hongkongers and visitors – are expected to pass through the city’s sea, land and air control points during mainland China’s Lunar New Year “golden week” holiday, which will run from January 28 to February 4.
Around 7.3 million of them are expected to head to the city via land checkpoints.
The government said the third and fifth days of Lunar New Year would be the peak of outbound and inbound travellers using the land checkpoints, with about 567,000 and 640,000 expected, respectively.
According to estimates from the tourism sector, 2,000 inbound tour groups will visit the city during the eight-day period.
