The week of 1 October marked a rare 13-day stretch of holidays for mainland Chinese, merging the Mid-Autumn Festival with the National Day Golden Week. This extended break turned Hong Kong into a magnet for mainland tourists while prompting many Hongkongers to hop north for cheaper goods, massages and even 60-centimetre egg tarts.
Border traffic spikes as shoppers and tourists flood the checkpoints
By 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, immigration data showed that roughly 69,000 Hong Kong residents had already left the city, while about 74,000 mainland visitors were entering. The total recorded arrivals reached 112,153 and departures hit 90,225 at the same hour, with mainland visitors accounting for 74,515 of the inbound flow.
People gathered at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point early in the morning, eager to reach Shenzhen for grocery runs, spa treatments and the novelty of a 60 cm-long egg tart. The Lo Wu and Shenzhen Bay control points also saw heavy use, with forecasts of up to 220,000, 190,000 and 150,000 passenger trips per day respectively during the seven-day Golden Week.
Hotel and restaurant sectors ride the holiday wave
Tourism officials expect around 1.29 million mainland visitors across the seven-day National Day period. On 26 September alone, 160,000 mainland travellers arrived, and daily arrivals stayed above 100,000 on the following Monday and Tuesday. Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said the combined holidays have kept the influx steady.
Small- and medium-size hotels have reported occupancy rates exceeding 90 percent with many fully booked for National Day. Independent guests typically stay two nights, and room rates at budget and chain hotels have risen between 10 and 20 percent. Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, noted that the catering industry logged nearly HK$1 billion in revenue during the three-day Mid-Autumn break, and that a similar boost is expected from the National Day fireworks display.
About 3,800 eateries are running special promotions, and many are targeting mainland users on the Xiaohongshu platform to attract travellers from distant cities such as Lanzhou and Harbin, who tend to linger longer. While Hongkongers are still drawn to Shenzhen for price differences, Wong believes the gap is narrowing and that quality of food and service will be decisive for future competition.
Transport upgrades accommodate the surge
The Transport Department has scheduled extra MTR services from 30 September to 7 October, and high-speed rail will add more trains between West Kowloon and key mainland stations. Shuttle buses on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Lok Ma Chau-Huanggang route will run at intervals of one to two minutes during peak periods.
Authorities expect the seven-day Golden Week to generate roughly 7.44 million passenger trips of which 6.31 million will be by land. Saturday is projected as the busiest outbound day, while Sunday (4 October) should see the highest inbound volume. Travelers are encouraged to use the HKeMobility app for real-time updates on traffic and clearance plazas, and to follow the Security Bureau’s “Checkpoint” platform for the latest information.
With occupancy rates near full and transport services scaled up, Hong Kong is poised to capitalize on one of the strongest tourism spikes of the year.
