Govt expects 1.4 million mainland tourists during Chinese New Year holidays

The Immigration Department expects some 1.4 million mainland tourists will visit Hong Kong over the course of the Chinese New Year holidays.

This as Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law expressed optimistism about the market situation this holiday season, pointing out that hotel bookings are nearly full.

With only ten days left until the Chinese New Year, a series of celebratory events are set to take off in Hong Kong during the holidays.

With the mainland holiday period lasting for a total of nine days, the Immigration Department expects 1.43 million mainland tourists will visit Hong Kong.

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law said hotel and restaurant bookings for the holidays indicated a positive trend.

She noted that the hotel sector said almost 80 percent of their rooms were already booked even before the fireworks performance was announced.

Law added that special measures will be put in place at several tourist hotspots to facilitate the surge of visitors, with authorities using technology to tackle the increased people flow at border checkpoints.

Meanwhile, regarding the possible plans to expand the scale of the Hong Kong Marathon to include more participants, Law said further considerations are required especially for splitting up the athletic event into two days.

She said she is waiting for a report providing more details from the Hong Kong China Association of Athletics Affiliates.