The Hong Kong Immigration Department estimates that 9.03 million travellers will enter and leave the city during the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays. Authorities expect that 7.54 million travellers will travel to Mainland China using land boundary control points, with the rest choosing to head to their destinations via sea or air.
Government forecasts say that most holidaymakers will travel during the long Christmas (December 22-26) and New Year (December 29-January 1) weekends. Authorities further expect that more than half a million passengers will cross the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China on December 23 and December 26 — with estimates of 549,000 and 626,000 travellers undertaking northbound and southbound journeys on each day respectively.
According to official estimates, the busiest land route will be Lo Wu Control Point, which is expected to handle daily passenger traffic amounting to 217,000 on average, followed by Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point with 184,000 each day, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, with 118,000 every day during the holiday season.
Last week, the Hong Kong regained its place among the world’s most visited destinations for 2023, when it bagged the No. 17 spot on Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destinations rankings. In addition, the Hong Kong Tourism Board revealed that the city welcomed 30.07 million visitors between January and November this year, the majority of them being from Mainland China.
The city has also revived some of its iconic annual events, which had been cancelled since 2019, first due to social unrest in the SAR and subsequently because of the government’s anti-Covid regulations that prohibited crowd gatherings. This year, visitors can expect to see fireworks displays as part of end-of-year festivities at the ongoing Hong Kong WinterFest at West Kowloon Cultural District and forthcoming New Year’s Eve Countdown event at Victoria Harbour.
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