Hong Kong welcomes 213,000 mainland tourists as ‘golden week' break starts
Advertisement
Immigration Department data showed that 253,200 visitors had entered the city as of 9pm. That included 213,181 from the mainland, compared with 181,400 for the whole day last year, while more than 281,000 Hong Kong residents had departed for other destinations.
In the afternoon, hundreds of early birds gathered at the Wan Chai temporary promenade hours ahead of a 12-minute Labour Day drone show at 8pm.
The event featured 1,000 drones weaving through the skies above Victoria Harbour, forming shapes such as firecrackers, dancing qilin – mythical hoofed beasts – and traditional buns in a nod to the Cheung Chau Bun Festival.
High Island Reservoir is another popular spot on the tourist trail. Photo: Dickson Lee
Among the crowd was Zhang Hui, a business owner from Shenzhen, who had arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday for three days with her 17-year-old daughter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
9 hours ago
- RTHK
HK to push 'headquarters economy', Northern Metropolis
HK to push 'headquarters economy', Northern Metropolis John Lee says Hong Kong is recording positive economic growth. Photo: RTHK Attracting global enterprises and introducing high-end industries to the Northern Metropolis are among the government's development strategies, Chief Executive John Lee said on Sunday as he held a second town hall meeting with citizens before delivering September's Policy Address. He revealed the government has received more than 5,500 opinions since the public consultation for the policy blueprint was launched in June, marking a nearly 10 percent increase compared to last year. Speaking at the town hall, Lee said Hong Kong should find ways to attract more global firms to set up their headquarters in the SAR. Retaining talent is crucial to Hong Kong's competitiveness, he added. 'Statistics show that Hong Kong has recorded a new high in the number of newly-registered non-local companies, which means we have attracted international enterprises, among which many are from the mainland, but there are also global companies. We will continue to work on this area,' he said. Lee also said the government aims to introduce high-end industries to the Northern Metropolis, a key development project for Hong Kong. During the town hall meeting, an audience member suggested that the government support non-Chinese speaking students who wish to study Putonghua, so they can pursue careers in the Greater Bay Area. Lee agreed that there should be education policies which cater to their needs. 'The ethnic minority population, in my mind, is a major part of our family. So we hope to integrate them with the community's development,' he said. 'In terms of education, I agree that some special measures should be introduced to help them. Over the years, we have allocated resources to facilitate ethnic minorities' learning of Chinese and we are listening to people's opinions to improve our measures.' Other matters raised during the meeting included tourism, helping people familiarise themselves with digital services, elderly care and Chinese medicine development. On the economy, Lee noted that Hong Kong is experiencing economic restructuring, while seeing positive growth. The CE also pointed out the government has become faster when it comes to helping residents during extreme weather events or power outages.
South China Morning Post
18 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
It's time to align Hong Kong's trading days with the mainland's
Money never sleeps in Hong Kong, except during some public holidays. The city is known for having many official days off. Often stock trading stops while other markets, including the one in mainland China, continue on their merry way of making money. In recent years, however, the city's stock exchange has been enhancing its services during traditional non-trading days. The next step, hopefully, will be to align holiday trading on Stock Connect with the mainland. Hong Kong's stock market is already dominated by Chinese companies, which account for around 80 per cent of its capitalisation. Since 2022, a large number of futures and options can be traded during holidays. Currency futures and options were included in March last year. The Hong Kong exchange has also moved to enhance the trading calendar for the Stock Connect programme, on both the northbound and southbound routes, to allow investors to trade on all days when both the mainland and Hong Kong markets are open. The Stock Connect, which links stock trading in Hong Kong with Shanghai and Shenzhen, enables a cross-border, two-way investing flow. It has offered more opportunities in Hong Kong for mainland investors and easier mainland access for international investors. Last year, the northbound and southbound average daily turnover was 150 billion yuan (US$20.7 billion) and HK$48.2 billion (US$6.2 billion), respectively, accounting for around 6 per cent and 18 per cent of the total turnover of the mainland and Hong Kong markets. The path forward is clear. More local holidays, though not all, can be open for trading. Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas can be included since they are normal working days on the mainland. Additional trading days on the calendar can ease market disruptions caused by a mismatch in holidays, which has frustrated fund managers on both sides of the border.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
China-built satellite station a ‘shining' example of support for Namibian space programme
On the outskirts of the Namibian capital Windhoek, a Chinese-funded and built satellite data receiving ground station symbolises China's growing cooperation in Africa's nascent space industry. The station was described by the Chinese embassy as 'a shining example of China-Namibia cooperation ' as they celebrated the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations. In a social media post on July 18 announcing the completion of the satellite facility ahead of time earlier this year, the embassy said it aimed to support Namibia in developing its space-related infrastructure and training technical talent , while enhancing its capacity in remote sensing satellite applications'. The ground station will primarily receive, process and distribute remote sensing satellite data for various applications such as environmental monitoring, agriculture , disaster management and resource assessment in the southwestern African country. China will also provide technical training to dozens of engineers to build up Namibia's capacity to operate and use the station independently. This ongoing cooperation highlights China's growing influence in space, as it helps African nations to build their space capabilities through strategic partnerships.
