Golden Week tourism jump put down to new attractions
About 920,000 mainland visitors came to Hong Kong during the Labour Day Golden Week holiday. File photo: RTHK
A tourism-sector representative said on Wednesday new attractions in the SAR have contributed to the better-than-expected tourist arrival figures from the mainland over the Labour Day Golden Week.
During the five-day holiday, about 920,000 mainlanders set foot in Hong Kong, exceeding the Travel Industry Council's (TIC) estimate of 800,000.
TIC executive director Fanny Yeung told an RTHK radio programme that the number is equivalent to more than 90 percent of pre-Covid levels.
"This year's Golden Week holiday was the first since Kai Tak Sports Park opened and the first since the city's panda cubs were available to welcome visitors," she said.
"The weather was also really nice during the holiday period, so we were very lucky.
"If the weather during that time was like it is today, I believe this would have had an impact on visitor numbers.
"Also, the final day of the holiday was on Buddha's Birthday, which was the day that Cheung Chau's Bun Festival was held so that also made this Golden Week holiday more appealing."
Yeung also attributed the higher arrival figures to "tourism everywhere" promotional efforts.
With more visitors choosing to go hiking, she said, the government may consider setting up a quota system to limit the number of visitors in popular hiking destinations, such as the High Island Reservoir East Dam in Sai Kung to avoid overcrowding.
A government working group on festival arrangements led by Chief Secretary Eric Chan found that nearly 33,000 of the mainland tourists over the holiday period came as part of more than 900 tour groups, with about 70 percent of them staying overnight.
The Tourism Board has said it expects the SAR to see 49 million visitor arrivals this year.
Lam Chi-ting from the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Employees' General Union believes that it won't be difficult to achieve the goal.
But he told the same programme that it would be difficult to have tour group numbers fully return to pre-Covid level as they only stand at 70 percent now.
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