Hong Kong marks start of Lunar New Year with surge of visitors

Hong Kong welcomed 10 per cent more visitors on the first day of Lunar New Year against a year ago, with crowds continuing to flock to hiking trails and tourists packing border crossing checkpoints.The latest Immigration Department data showed that 153,383 visitors arrived in the city on Tuesday, representing a 10.4 per cent increase compared with the first day of Lunar New Year last year. Of these, more than 120,000 came from Mainland China.Inbound trips over the first two days of Lunar New Year totalled 265,140, marking a 7.8 per cent rise from 245,729 during the same period last year.The holiday on the mainland began last Sunday and will run to February 23, spanning nine days from the 28th day of the last month of the lunar calendar to the seventh day after the new year.Authorities expect 1.43 million visitors from the mainland during the holiday, up by 6 per cent from last year.The city has been filled with visitors from both the mainland and overseas, with a total of 816,522 arrivals over the past five days.On Wednesday morning, the South China Morning Post observed heavy traffic on the Macau-bridge" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="17286" data-entity-type="location">Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, while the bus stop at the facility was crowded with tourists who had just crossed the border.