Hong Kong recorded over 5.42 million cross-boundary travelers during the special administrative region’s five-day Chinese New Year break, including nearly 830,000 Chinese mainland visitors.
The daily average number of passenger trips was 1.08 million and mainland arrivals were 166,000, surpassing the numbers recorded during the four-day Chinese New Year holiday in 2024.
Intangible cultural heritage experiences, flower markets, street parades and other celebratory events created a rich festive atmosphere within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, generating enthusiasm for cross-boundary travel during the Chinese New Year.
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In the Chinese mainland, the Spring Festival holiday began on Jan 28 — Chinese New Year’s Eve. In a radio program on Sunday, Ma Ho-fai, chairman of the city’s Travel Industry Authority, revealed that over 1,600 mainland tour groups visited Hong Kong between Jan 28 and Feb 1, comprising more than 58,000 people.
It is expected that during the mainland’s eight-day holiday, which ends on Tuesday, nearly 2,000 mainland groups comprising about 70,000 visitors will have come to Hong Kong — significantly higher than the pre-COVID level, according to Ma.
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The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has been operating at peak levels throughout the holiday. Between Jan 28 to 31, over 454,000 passengers and more than 69,000 vehicles passed through the Zhuhai Port of the bridge, representing 22 percent and 32 percent year-on-year growth, respectively. Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR residents accounted for over 60 percent of the total passenger flow using the bridge.
On Jan 31 alone, over 11,000 Hong Kong single-plated vehicles entered the mainland via the bridge under the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles policy, breaking the single-day record since the initiative’s implementation in mid-2023.
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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in a blog article published on Sunday that this year's festive atmosphere in Hong Kong has been notable, with an increase in crowd sizes at traditional tourist hotspots, shopping districts and large malls.
Chan also said that some of his friends within the catering sector had told him that their turnover during the holiday had risen by more than 10 percent, reflecting an improvement in consumer confidence.
