Around 6 million inbound and outbound trips are set to be made in Hong Kong during mainland China’s Labour Day golden week holiday, which will run between 1 and 5 May. The estimate was made by the city’s Immigration Department, which also forecast around 980,000 mainland Chinese tourist arrivals during the 5-day holiday, up 7 percent year-on-year.
Foot traffic at Hong Kong’s land checkpoints is expected to reach a peak on the second and third day of golden week, hitting roughly 635,000 people on 2 May and 688,000 people on Sunday.
Some of the busiest land border crossings will include the Lo Wu Control Point, which is projected to receive a daily average of around 246,000 passengers. The Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point and the Shenzhen Bay Control Point are due to receive a daily average of 227,000 and 172,000 passengers respectively.
According to the Travel Industry Authority, 770 mainland tour groups are also set to make their way to Hong Kong during the holiday.
Other parts of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) are also expected to receive significant numbers of visitors. In a statement to gaming specialist publication GGRAsia last Tuesday, the Macao Government Office (MGTO) said the city’s tourism level during the forthcoming golden week would be on par with last year’s total of approximately 850,000 visitor arrivals.
Meanwhile, Andy Wu, the head of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, told GGRAsia that “we may see 170,000 visitor arrivals per day – or even a volume above that level – for the Labour Day holiday.”
Cheung Kin Chung, the president of the Macao Hotel Association, is also optimistic about Macao’s tourism numbers, telling TDM that the overall golden week visitor arrival rate could exceed the 2019 level. This was the case last year, when daily visitor arrival rate reached 107.5 percent of the 2019 figure.
[See more: Macao visitor arrivals surge past 11 million mark in first quarter]
At a press conference this morning, the Public Security Police (PSP) told local media they expected crossings to peak on 2 May, with the average total hitting between 720,000 to 740,000 per day.
Guangzhou will be particularly busy as well, as the provincial capital is anticipated to register around 32 million arrivals and departures, up 5.9 percent year-on-year, according to Guangzhou Daily.
The GBA’s major aviation hubs are projected to handle a substantial number of arrivals during the Labour Day holiday. According to National Immigration Administration forecasts cited by state media, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport and Shenzhen Bao’an International are projected to receive a daily average of around 55,000 passengers and 20,000 passengers respectively.
Shenzhen’s railway system will be particularly busy during golden week, with local officials telling People’s Daily that the tech hub’s rail network is expected to transport a cumulative total of 3.63 million passengers, or a daily average of 454,4000 passengers.
One of the busiest stations will be Shenzhenbei Railway Station, which is forecast to carry a total of 2.4 million passengers during the five-day period, or a daily average of 301,000 passengers.
Ahead of golden week, cities in the GBA have been implementing an array of measures to cope with the significant flow of people. The Hong Kong government held a meeting last Monday to discuss crowd control and the coordination of transport during the holiday. The city also added 13 more train services connected to Shenzhen.
Similar preparatory measures were announced by Macao authorities this morning, with the Transport Bureau stating that it would operate six seasonal bus lines, including 3BX, 17T, 21AT, 26AT, 101XS and 25AX.
