Travelers walk by others waiting at the departures hall at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Feb 10, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

Hong Kong’s land, sea and air crossings recorded the passage of over 660,000 inbound and outbound holidaymakers on Wednesday, the first day of the city’s first long holiday since its COVID curbs were fully relaxed in early March.

Passengers were seen queuing up at such places as Hong Kong International Airport, West Kowloon Railway Station, and for Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZM Bridge) shuttle buses bound for Macao. At peak times, passengers had to wait for about one to two hours for a bus. Apart from Macao, the Chinese mainland was also a hot destination for Hong Kong outbound tourists.

About a third of the passengers, or 138,684, passed through Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line checkpoints on Wednesday. The West Kowloon Railway Station also saw 53,334 passengers leaving. Another 52,940 people left via the HZM Bridge and 51,286 travelers left Hong Kong by air

According to the Immigration Department, a total of 386,943 people left the city on Wednesday, the Qingming Festival holiday which is also close to the start of the four-day Easter holidays from Friday to Monday. About a third of them, or 138,684, passed through Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line checkpoints, two land crossings with the mainland that can be reached by MTR. The West Kowloon Railway Station, with its concourse packed with passengers, also saw 53,334 passengers leaving. Another 52,940 people left via the HZM Bridge and 51,286 travelers left the city by air.

The city also recorded over 280,000 visitors on the same day, with Lo Wu being the busiest inbound checkpoint, which handled 60,009 inbound passengers.

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On March 30, the Immigration Department estimated that over 9 million travelers would enter or leave Hong Kong between April 1 and 10, with nearly 83.5 percent of them expected to use the city's land crossings connecting with the mainland. The Lo Wu checkpoint was expected to handle about 2.2 million passengers during the period, and the border ports of Lok Ma Chau Spur Line and HZM Bridge would also be very busy during the holidays, with daily crossings of 147,000 people and 138,000 people respectively, according to the Immigration Department.

Hong Kong has seen a surge in cross-boundary travelers since the city fully resumed quarantine-free travel in early February. A total of 1.46 million passengers came to Hong Kong in February, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, which was the first time the city recorded over 1 million visitors in a single month since February, 2020.

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In the first four days of April, Hong Kong recorded a passenger flow of 2.42 million, with incoming visitors reaching 1 million. Lo Wu checkpoint was the most heavily utilized crossing among all the land ports, with 553,507 people using it to enter or leave the city. On April 1 alone, Lo Wu logged a daily passenger flow of about 100,000.