Hong Kong: Tourism industry leaders on Thursday said Hong Kong still holds a strong appeal for mainland tourists, as the special administrative region welcomed over 625,000 tourists from the mainland over the just-concluded five-day May Day holiday.
A total of 1.7 million people entered the city during the five-day break — the first long break since the Chinese mainland resumed regular travel with Hong Kong — which fell between April 29 and May 3 this year. Among them, 37 percent or 625,000 were tourists from the mainland, according to the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.
This is a stark contrast to last year’s May Day holiday when COVID-19 restrictions were in place, during which only around 30,000 visitors entered and exited Hong Kong, with over 90 percent being local residents and only 1,641 mainland tourists.
Before the pandemic, the city received about 1 million tourists from the mainland, along with another 1.08 million tourists from other places during a four-day May Day break in 2019. Though the figure has not fully returned to the pre-COVID days, industry stakeholders are optimistic about the rebound of the city economy, as a result of a surge in mainland tourists. Chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Retail and Wholesale Shum Chu-wah said mainland tourists played a vital role in promoting the city’s economic recovery and the development of various industries, particularly retail.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
