Tens of thousands of people were stuck for hours at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Christmas Day, as nearly 670,000 travellers passed through Hong Kong’s border checkpoints by Thursday afternoon.
Hong Kong police and the MTR Corporation also warned on Thursday morning that Shenzhen Bay, Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Spur line control points were crowded and that travellers should expect a longer waiting time to cross the border.
The Immigration Department said 666,884 people had passed through Hong Kong’s various checkpoints by 4pm on Christmas Day.
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A breakdown of the figure showed 554,827 were Hongkongers, 81,360 were mainland Chinese travellers and 30,697 were visitors from other regions.
This year’s Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Thursday and Friday, giving Hongkongers a four-day weekend.
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A Post reporter at the Hong Kong port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge observed at around lunchtime on Thursday that the departure hall was packed with tens of thousands of tourists and visitors, who waited at least 1½ hours in lines to get on the cross-border Gold Bus.