The HK government and the tourism industry are gearing up for the challenge of welcoming an expected 500,000 mainland visitors during the 10-day Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.

Measures to cope with the expected influx across the border include facilitating human flows at various boundary control points, boosting transportation services for visitors, and ensuring that they will be well informed about consumer protection.

HK Commissioner for Tourism Eva Cheng pointed out yesterday that the Lunar New Year holiday was the traditional peak travel period for mainland tourists and, because of the strong festive atmosphere here, Hong Kong has always been a popular destination for mainland tourists during this period.

"The current indications are that about 500,000 visitors may arrive from the mainland over the 10-day period (from January 27 to February 5), representing a year-on-year growth of about 10 per cent," Cheng said.

"We estimate that more than half of them will be Individual Travel Scheme (ITS) visitors and about 16 per cent would come in tour groups."

She said that increasing mainland tour groups have bolstered the demand for hotel rooms, and the medium-priced ones are almost fully booked.

The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) has again reminded inbound travel agents to ensure confirmation of accommodation before taking up tour groups from the mainland, and has requested them to issue written confirmation to mainland tour operators stating clearly the agreed number of reserved hotel rooms.

TIC has also stepped up communication with the travel agents, requesting them to make appropriate arrangements on the itinerary to minimize the waiting time for immigration clearance and avoid overcrowding.

Cheng urged travel agents to also ensure that tourist guides comply with the relevant codes of practice.

"To ensure the quality of visits by tour groups, we have requested TIC to strictly enforce the guidelines on receiving and arranging shopping activities for tour groups so as to ensure consumer protection for visitors," she said.

"Any cases of complaints regarding shopping and itineraries should be taken seriously and handled promptly."

The tourism commission encourages mainland tourists who are planning to visit Hong Kong during the Spring Festival period to consider adjusting their journey to avoid crossing the boundary in the morning or evening peak hours.

"The government will continue to adopt a series of measures that have been effective in previous peak periods," she said. "The departments are well prepared and will flexibly deploy resources according to the situation. In addition, we will maintain a close liaison with the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration to monitor the situation of visitor flow and the number of arrivals."

Cheng advised inbound visitors and local residents travelling abroad to make appropriate arrangements for hotel accommodation and transportation before departure, and to take suitable travel insurance cover according to their needs.

(China Daily January 27, 2006)