Travel News
- More HK people cross border for fun
Date: 8-Oct-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
FEWER Hong Kong residents are visiting the mainland for work and business but more are going there for fun, a survey by Hong Kong's Planning Department has found.
Some 6.3 million cross-border trips, or a daily average of 448,100, were made in a two-week survey period between November and December last year, according to the Cross-boundary Travel Survey released Saturday.
According to the survey, Hong Kong residents' work trips to the mainland dropped 19.1 percent to a daily average of 24,300 from 30,100 in 2003. Their business trips across the border slipped 2.3 percent to a daily average of 76,200 from 78,000 in 2003.
But the number of leisure trips rose 24.8 percent to a daily average of 152,100 from 121,900 in 2003.
The survey, the fourth in a series by the department, was conducted at nine immigration control points with 46,000 passengers and 13,600 drivers being interviewed. Previous surveys were done in 1999, 2001 and 2003.
The daily average of cross-border trips last year represented a 17 percent increase over 2003.
Hongkongers made 73 percent of all the cross-border trips, while mainlanders accounted for 15 percent of the total.
On average, 65,200 mainlanders crossed the border each day during the survey period, up 66 percent on 2003. Nearly half of the mainlanders' trips were made under the solo-traveler scheme.
Of all the Hongkongers' cross-border trips, 46 percent were leisure trips, followed by business trips, at 23 percent, and trips to visit friends and relatives, at 18 percent.
Shenzhen remained the most popular destination for Hong Kong people going north, accounting for 66 percent of the trips.
The number of frequent travelers, who cross the border at least once a week, has risen to 669,500 from 599,500 in 2003.
Hong Kong legislator Wong Kwok-hing said the decline in trips north for business was probably caused by the rising operating costs in the Pearl River Delta, which forced the closure of many Hong Kong-owned factories.
He added that smoother cross-border journeys due to improvement in transport had resulted in more Hong Kong residents going for fun.
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