Hundreds of thousands gather on both sides of Victoria Harbour as Hong Kong welcomes 2024 with a bang
- Celebrations across the city include theme park concerts, bar parties and 12-minute pyrotechnics extravaganza over Victoria Harbour
- More than 479,000 people watched the fireworks display on both sides of the harbour
Hundreds of thousands of revellers packed both sides of Hong Kong’s famed Victoria Harbour on New Year’s Eve to welcome in 2024 with the city’s largest-ever countdown fireworks display, as optimism of better times ahead for the economy and job prospects filled the air.
Celebrations across the city – including theme park concerts, bar parties and the 12-minute pyrotechnics extravaganza over the harbour – brought a year hit by an economic downturn and property and stock market slumps to a close.
City leader John Lee Ka-chiu sought to inject confidence ahead of the new year by pledging to boost the economy, while finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po appealed for “a curious and open-minded” attitude to contend with changing times.
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Traditional new year fireworks light up Hong Kong skyline as city rings in 2024
More than 479,000 people watched the fireworks display on both sides of the harbour, police said.
Thousands of residents and tourists started to gather along the waterfront hours before Sunday’s fireworks show as the city logged its warmest New Year’s Eve on record, at 25.7 degrees Celsius at the Hong Kong Observatory.
At Tamar Park in Admiralty, one of the spots with the best views for the fireworks, some arrived as early as 6pm. People sat on picnic mats and portable recliners, shared refreshments and listened to music as they waited for the countdown.
Robles Lan, 57, a family driver from the Philippines who has lived in Hong Kong for 29 years, said he wished for a more stable job in 2024 to tackle increasingly expensive living costs.
