110,000 mainland Chinese tourists leave Hong Kong on first day of ‘golden week’; day trippers cite hotel prices, benefits of high-speed rail link for short stays
- Official figures show 165,669 travellers crossed the border into Hong Kong on Saturday, while 110,547 departed as of midnight
- Hotel room rates surged ahead of long holiday
The number of overnight stays was also affected as medium- and long-haul passenger flights had not yet reached half of pre-pandemic levels, Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners executive director Caspar Tsui Ying-wai said on Sunday.
He said staff shortages were still hindering the industry’s recovery.
“As flight capacity continues to increase, more tourists are expected to visit Hong Kong this year,” said Tsui, a former home affairs minister.
He said hotels located near popular tourist destinations reached occupancy rates of 90 per cent or above for the Labour Day golden week break.
Prices for a family room at Tom’s Guest House in Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui hit HK$6,364 (US$811) a night from Monday to Tuesday, according to a Post check on Trip.com. At the five-star Rosewood Hong Kong hotel in the same area, the price for a harbour-view room from Saturday to Sunday soared to HK$9,622.
Immigration Department figures showed that on Sunday, the second day of the mainland’s national five-day holiday, 329,102 people entered Hong Kong through various border control points as of 9pm, while 341,339 departed the city.
As of midnight on Saturday, 165,669 travellers from the mainland crossed into Hong Kong, while 110,547 departed the city.
More mainlanders arrived in Hong Kong at the start of this golden week compared with the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019, when 140,673 and 159,537, respectively, crossed into the city.
Mainland tourists made up 86 per cent of the total 193,297 inbound travellers on Saturday. Taking into account the movements of Hong Kong residents, the city’s net outflow exceeded its inflow by 52,337.
At about 3.15pm on Sunday, there were chaotic scenes at the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui involving hundreds of bewildered tourists who wanted to cross Victoria Harbour to Central. Some argued and shoved one another while in a long queue to buy tickets with cash at a machine.
“It was chaos,” said 24-year-old Zhejiang tourist Su Jhonghao, who struggled for about 10 minutes to buy a ticket. “There were not many staff to guide passengers and many people because of [the holiday].”
Only one worker was seen trying to help customers to buy tickets at the machine one hour later, while no crowd control measures appeared to be in place.
Mainland tourists said the high hotel prices and the fully resumed cross-border high-speed rail were factors in their decision not to spend the night in the city.
More than 310,000 visitors arrive in Hong Kong as Labour Day ‘golden week’ begins
Chen Hao and Ma Chang, both 19-year-old university students from Shenzhen visiting Hong Kong for the first time, said they would do some sightseeing and shopping, with plans to buy skincare products, before returning home at 8pm.
“We don’t want to stay for a few days, as it’s not a good use of money,” Chen said.
Other day trippers included 30-year-old banker Gary Ge, who was visiting the city from Shenzhen for the first time and planned to stop by the Palace Museum and Victoria Harbour.
“We are on holiday for a few days, so we came here for a day. However, we might come back again the day after tomorrow as it’s so convenient to come to Hong Kong,” he added.
Ge said high hotel prices and convenient travel were the reasons he decided not to stay overnight.
Civil engineer Onion Ru, 26, and his girlfriend said they each paid 6,000 yuan (US$869) for a three- to four-day tour package to the city.
Why do mainland Chinese tourists no longer find Hong Kong cool?
“We are from Shanghai, so it would be inconvenient for us to do a trip where we returned on the same day, so we decided we will just stay for a few more days,” Ru said.
The two flagship museums in the cultural district reported a record number of visitors on Sunday, with 7,300 at the Palace Museum and 19,000 for M+.
The five-day golden week holiday runs from Saturday to Wednesday on the mainland. It is the first extended break since the country dropped its Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Immigration authorities in the city had earlier estimated about 4.61 million people, including locals and international visitors, would arrive in or depart Hong Kong, with 85 per cent passing through land crossings from Saturday to next Thursday.
The Travel Industry Council estimated 600,000 mainlanders would visit Hong Kong from Saturday to Friday, with individual travellers comprising 80 per cent of the figure.
The Travel Industry Authority received 636 registrations for mainland inbound tours to Hong Kong from Saturday to Wednesday, involving about 20,000 visitors.
On Sunday, 158 of these tours arrived in Hong Kong, with about 5,300 visitors.
