Waves arrive but some prefer to stay overnight at cheaper Shenzhen hotels

Masses of mainlanders crossed to Hong Kong on the first day of their Labor Day golden week, many of them planning to visits museums or go hiking and camping.

But some said they will not stay in Hong Kong hotels as they are too expensive and instead plan to go to Shenzhen where the lodging is about two-thirds cheaper.

The Immigration Department earlier estimated that 5.9 million people would cross the border during the five-day mainland holiday from yesterday to Sunday.

The travel peak was yesterday, with nearly 140,000 mainlanders entering Hong Kong as of 4pm - many through West Kowloon Station, the busiest control point, followed by Lok Ma Chau Spur Line and Lo Wu port.

Some 200 additional immigration officers were deployed later yesterday at control points to cope with the visitor flow after immigration director Benson Kwok Joon-fung said some tourists might have traveled later due to the weather.

As the number of arrivals increased at noon, MTR staff were spotted maintaining order at Lo Wu, while those from payment gateway AlipayHK distributed leaflets explaining how to use the public transport QR code in the app.

Hu, from Guangzhou, will stay in Hong Kong for five days. She crossed the border in six minutes, describing the process as smooth.

But a group of tourists planned to visit Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok to take photos, and then go to Shenzhen to stay overnight as Hong Kong hotels are costly.

"We will go back to Shenzhen at night, but we may come again on Friday," one of them said. "The price of a hotel room in Shenzhen is just a third of that in Hong Kong. That's a huge difference."

Hong Kong Tourism Instructors Association chairman Lam Chi-tin said the number of inbound tourists has recovered to prepandemic levels, but the number of tour groups has not increased despite the travel peak season.

"The number of inbound tour groups has dropped from over 300 per day before to about 100 to 200 now," Lam said, adding the period of stay has also decreased to two nights, from three to four nights in the past.

"More tour groups even choose not to stay overnight, which has affected the income of tour guides, resulting in difficulties in attracting new blood to the industry."

According to the Travel Industry Authority, 190 mainland tour groups arrived in Hong Kong yesterday.

The usually crowded To Kwa Wan district, where tour groups dine and shop, was almost deserted early while restaurants specializing in group meals saw no queues.

Some tourists were seen waiting for coaches outside restaurants after eating, while authority staff members tried to maintain order, reminding diners not to disturb local residents' daily activities.

The decline in the number of tour groups has also affected shops.

Wong, an employee in a duty-free cosmetics shop, said not many tour groups visited and their store's business was just the same as a non-holiday.

stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com