Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday that he expects the National Day Golden Week holiday to attract many tourists to Hong Kong.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, Lee said he expects hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists to watch the fireworks display along Victoria Harbour on October 1.

He said the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau will implement measures to cater for a surge in visitors.

"We will deploy additional manpower, especially at cross-boundary locations where we expect a large number of traffic. We've also deployed more manpower at the airport as well," the CE said.

Meanwhile, the Travel Industry Authority said it expects about 720 mainland tour groups to visit the SAR next week, involving some 30,000 tourists.

It added that many more mainland visitors will be coming on an individual basis.

The authority said it has stepped up inspections of shops at tourist spots after a few Chinese pharmacies in Causeway Bay were named by the Consumer Council for conning customers.