Hong Kong braces for 11 million trips back and forth across border for Easter break and Ching Ming Festival, but tourism not expecting big boost
- About 9.5 million land border crossings expected and another 1.5 million by air and sea
- Train operator MTR Corporation to increase services on several lines to cope with expected demand
Hong Kong’s tourism industry does not expect a happy Easter despite predictions that visitors and residents will make 11 million trips in and out of the city over the holiday weekend and the Ching Ming Festival.
The department said on Monday, after discussions with mainland Chinese counterparts, it expected about 9.5 million trips would be made through land checkpoints between Thursday and April 7.
About 1.5 million more people are expected to depart or arrive by land and sea.
Officials said the number of outbound people using land border checkpoints would account for 601,000 trips on Friday and 589,000 inbound journeys next Monday as Hongkongers returned.
The department said it expected heavy traffic, with about 207,000 people using the Lo Wu crossing, 169,000 at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line and 143,000 via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge every day over the 10-day period.
