HONG KONG – Around 298 million passengers passed through Hong Kong's control points in 2024, representing an increase of about 41 percent over 2023 and a return to the level in 2019, the city's security chief said on Wednesday.

The total number of visitor arrivals last year was about 44.5 million, an increase of about 31 percent compared to the previous year, Chris Tang Ping-keung said in a written reply to a related query in the Legislative Council.

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Of the visitors, around 9.86 million travelled through the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) control point, representing an increase of about 42 percent over 2023.

“Various facilitation measures have been implemented at control points in order to provide visitors with a more convenient clearance experience,” Tang said, adding that the Immigration Department (ImmD) keeps leveraging innovative technologies, responding to the significant volume of passenger traffic.

While the number of inbound and outbound passenger trips at the HKIA control point was 906,401 in 2022, it reached 13,348,015 in the following year and 19,234,731 in 2024.

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Over the past three years, an average of over 99 percent of visitors were cleared at the HKIA control point within a 15-minute waiting time each year, the secretary for security added.

Meanwhile, in a recent World Passenger Survey commissioned by Skytrax, an international specialist research agent in the air transport industry, the ImmD won the 2025 Skytrax Award for Best Airport Immigration Service.

“This marks another accomplishment of the ImmD following previous awards in 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020, reflecting the global recognition of the services provided by the Immigration Department," said Tang. 

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A gradual increase was also marked in the past three years in the annual number of inbound and outbound passenger trips using the e-Channel service at the HKIA control point.

While 56,097 mainland visitors and 46,471 visitors from other places used the service in 2022, the numbers were 1,620,671 and 2,228,759 in 2023, and 3,165,524 and 3,358,982 in 2024, respectively.

“To further reduce waiting time for inbound visitors, the ImmD is actively exploring ways to enhance the e-Channel service arrangements for visitors to Hong Kong, including relaxing application requirements for frequent visitors to Hong Kong and streamlining enrolment procedures,” added the secretary.