Hong Kong gears up for expected influx of arrivals ahead of new year

Hong Kong checkpoints logged at least 520,000 arrivals on Sunday as border officers geared up for an anticipated peak influx of holidaymakers coming to celebrate the new year.

The Immigration Department had projected that the number of arrivals using land control points during the Christmas and New Year holiday period would peak on Sunday, with an estimated 626,000 entries.

As of 9pm on Sunday, immigration officers at all 13 control points had dealt with 933,113 people, comprising 519,744 arrivals and 413,369 departures, according to provisional data from the department.

The busiest crossings were the two rail-based border control points – Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau spur line. Up to 9pm, the former had recorded 170,815 people, while the latter cleared 160,296 arriving and departing passengers.

The third-busiest control point was the land-based Shenzhen Bay crossing. It handled 126,702 people arriving and departing.

Among the arrivals, 94,713 were from mainland China. They mostly entered via the Lok Ma Chau spur line checkpoint and express rail link in West Kowloon. The two crossings respectively handled 21,198 and 21,033 incoming mainlanders up to 9pm.