The 1.25 million mainland Chinese tourists who visited Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year holiday “intensified the city’s ambience” and boosted the catering and retail industries, the government has said.
The Immigration Department recorded around 1.436 million inbound visitors through multiple sea, land and air control points between February 10 and 17, the government said in a statement on Sunday. Around 1.255 million tourists – or close to 90 per cent – were from mainland China, where its residents enjoyed an eight-day break during Lunar New Year.
The daily average of mainland Chinese visitors stood at around 157,000, exceeding figures in the Labour Day holiday in May and China’s National Day “Golden Week” in October last year.
The city saw the most number of visitors last Monday, the third day of Lunar New Year, recording around 186,000 visitors from mainland China.
“The number of Mainland visitors during the Golden Week has exceeded the level in the same period in 2018, intensifying the city’s ambience and also increasing the income of the catering and retail industry,” Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said in Sunday’s statement.
According to the Travel Industry Authority, around 1,980 group tours from mainland China visited Hong Kong during the long holiday. The group tours brought around 66,000 visitors to the city, the government said.
Tourists were drawn to the major events held in the city during Lunar New Year, Yeung said, including the 23-minute HK$13 million fireworks display and the night parade which was held for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The events were very popular and “created vibrant vibes,” the minister said.
Many visitors also went to tourist attractions in the city, such as the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park and the Peak Tram, the government said.
The overall hotel occupancy rate reached 90 per cent in the first few days of the holiday, the government added, while the catering and retail sector also benefited.
“I believe visitors can feel the intense festive ambience of Chinese New Year and the unique metropolitan glamour of Hong Kong,” Yeung said.
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