1.4 million mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong over Lunar New Year: John Lee
City leader adds celebratory events in Hong Kong will include 23-minute fireworks display and parade featuring international performers
Hong Kong will welcome more than 1.4 million mainland Chinese tourists over Lunar New Year, the city’s leader has predicted, saying the trend of having overseas visitors will also be noticeable in the Year of the Snake.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that a 23-minute fireworks display and a parade featuring international performance groups would be among a string of celebratory events for the holiday, which runs from January 28 to February 4 on the mainland.
“[We] estimate that more than 1.4 million mainland tourists will visit Hong Kong via different borders during the eight-day holiday,” Lee said before his weekly meeting with the key decision-making Executive Council.
He said the estimated number of daily visitors would represent increases of 3 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, over the figures for the National Day and Lunar New Year holidays last year.
Lee said the fireworks display would light up Victoria Harbour on January 30 and was expected to attract more than 100,000 residents and tourists.
The pyrotechnics show, to start at 8pm with 23,888 firework shells to be let off, will include panda patterns in one of its nine scenes.
