More than half a million travelled across the border at the start of mainland LNY holidays

The mainland's Lunar New Year Golden Week holidays kicked off today.

This as Hong Kong immigration authorities reported over 580,000 people travelled across the border as of 4 p.m. today, among which 270,000 were Hongkongers heading to the north and more than 110,000 being mainland tourists visiting the city.

Scenes of West Kowloon Station this morning remained similar to those of yesterday, with scores of mainland tourists pouring into the city --many of them being large families.

This mainland visitor said she wanted to bring her children to see a metropolitan area like Hong Kong with their very own eyes, noting that it is home to attractive landmarks such as Disneyland and Ocean Park,

while this woman said Hong Kong has a special place in her heart since she grew up watching TVB dramas, adding that she really wanted to try boarding the local trams.

On Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, the traditionally popular tourist area already saw long queues by noon, with some eager buyers looking to purchase precious metals.

This Dongguan tourist said he is aiming to buy some gold jewellery to please his wife, while this woman from Zhejiang said she heard discounts were offered in nearby shops and hopes to find some newer jewellery designs here.

Meanwhile, representatives from the hotel sector noted around 90 percent of hotel rooms have been booked for the new year holiday period, with prices also seeing an increase of 5 to 8 percent.

Speaking about the boost in tourism numbers, Miramar Group Chief Operations Officer Alan Chan said the positive situation is largely the result of the golden week holidays having been extended to nine days.

He added that the city will organise various large-scale activities to celebrate the new year in hopes of enticing visitors to stay for an extra few days.