Cross-boundary travel between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland surged 18.9 percent year-on-year during the Qingming Festival, with 3.39 million passenger trips recorded, as families performed their annual tomb-sweeping traditions and went on a three-day holiday break.
According to the HKSAR’s Immigration Department, the average number of daily passenger trips between April 4 and 6 reached 1.13 million daily – up from the daily average of 950,000 trips made during last year’s 11-day Easter and Qingming holidays.
Of the total number of trips from Friday to Sunday, 1.81 million were arrivals and 1.58 million were departures on either side. Friday alone saw over 1.27 million passenger trips, including 870,524 by Hong Kong residents.
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The trend of residents of the special administrative region travelling north is also evident in a report by online travel agency Trip.com Group, with the number of bookings by Hong Kong residents having grown by 35 percent year-on-year during the three-day holiday period.
Cities in the Pearl River Delta region, such as Shenzhen, Dongguan and Shantou, were among the most popular destinations for Hong Kong visitors worshiping their ancestors or enjoying local delicacies.
The number of bookings by mainland residents visiting Hong Kong’s popular tourist attractions, including art museum M+ and the Peak, exceeded 100 percent during the same period.
Lo Wu Port remained the top choice of travelers, with 706,827 passenger trips made through the checkpoint, followed by 601,463 at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line control point and 470,852 through Shenzhen Bay Port.
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On Sunday, the Hong Kong immigration authorities recorded over 1.07 million passenger trips, including 667,479 arrivals, 539,877 of whom were Hong Kong residents.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge also saw significant traffic on Sunday, with more than 72,000 returning Hong Kong residents using the route.
There were long queues of private vehicles during the evening peak hours. Some travelers reported having to wait for up to two hours at Zhuhai’s Gongbei Tunnel – the main access point to the bridge. The authorities had to open up extra immigration lanes at 7 pm to improve traffic flow.
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There were about 95,000 mainland visitors to Hong Kong on Sunday, most of whom arrived via the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line (17,948) and West Kowloon High-Speed Rail Station (17,674).
Sunday saw more than 241,000 Hong Kong residents leaving the city. Lo Wu recorded the highest number of outbound trips at over 55,000, followed by the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line with 46,000 departures, and 116,000 departures from the mainland.
