HK's tourism industry benefits from over 766,000 mainland arrivals during holiday period

Hong Kong has recorded about 766,000 visitor arrivals from the Chinese mainland through the air, sea and land control points during the Labor Day Golden Week of the mainland (May 1 to 5), with an average daily arrivals of about 153,000, up 22 percent year-on-year.

Citing statistics from the Hong Kong Immigration Department, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Monday that the overall number of inbound mainland visitors was in line with earlier estimate, and the operation at boundary control points and different arrangements for receiving visitors were conducted smoothly in general.

A total of about 570 inbound mainland tour groups visited Hong Kong during the holidays, registering around 19,000 arrivals, the spokesperson said.

Although most of the Golden Week was affected by rain, the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong matched our initial estimate, bringing more than 2 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 260 million U.S. dollars) in consumption benefits to Hong Kong's economy. The market is also vivacious, said Kevin Yeung, secretary for culture, sports, and tourism of the HKSAR government, adding that the government will draw on experience to better its services and woo visitors.