ImmD records 123k departures on Thu as families celebrate holidays with LNY getaways

To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Snake, many citizens took advantage of the holiday to travel.

According to data from the Immigration Department accounting for only today, approximately 123,000 people have departed as of 10 am on Thursday, with 72,000 visitors entering the city, totaling about 195,200 passengers passing through various checkpoints.

Among those departing, about 105,500 are Hong Kong residents, while about 48,500 mainland visitors entered the city.

Most passengers used the Luohu Port, followed by the airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Port, for their departures.

This data is in addition to the numbers on the first day of the Lunar New Year, where the department reported that a total of about 441,000 people had left the city, and about 238,000 people had entered the city by 9 pm yesterday (Jan 29), totaling approximately 679,000 passengers passing through the various checkpoints.

Many families were seen crossing the border at Lo Wu Station, but no overwhelming crowds were observed.

Some citizens aimed to go for a one-day trip and planned to return in the evening, while others were looking forward to spending longer trips and were planning on staying over at their friends' places.