ImmD reports record 335m arrivals and departures last year, 50m visitors to HK

The Immigration Department (ImmD) held its annual review briefing on Friday (Feb 13), summarizing last year’s work and outlining plans for the year ahead.

Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung described last year as a “busy year,” with total arrivals and departures reaching a record high of 335 million, a 12 percent increase from 2024. Visitors to Hong Kong numbered around 50 million, up about 10 percent from the previous year.

Kwok expects more than 9.5 million people to cross Hong Kong’s land border checkpoints during the Lunar New Year holiday period (February 14–23). He predicted that Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, and Shenzhen Bay checkpoints would be the busiest.

He urged travellers to plan ahead and avoid peak hours at the border, and advised checking the one-stop information platform “Easy Boundary” or the ImmD mobile app for estimated waiting times at land border checkpoints.