Police chief Raymond Siu on Tuesday said about seven thousand officers have been deployed to various districts for national day, as mainland travellers visit Hong Kong for the Golden Week holiday.

Speaking after attending a reception at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, Siu said he hopes the public can feel happiness on such an important day.

Meanwhile, the Director of Immigration, Benson Kwok, said Hong Kong is expecting a high number of mainland travellers on national day and that the border points connected to the East Rail Line are expected to be the busiest ones, while many travellers are also expected to take the express rail to West Kowloon Station.

"The Immigration Department is ready. We have basically deployed all available border staff at the checkpoints as far as possible," Kwok said.

"We hope everything will go smoothly, and that travellers coming south from the mainland can cross the border in a speedy and convenient manner."

At West Kowloon Station, a tourist from Shanghai said prices for flight tickets to Hong Kong were expensive, so they flew to Shenzhen and then took the express rail to the SAR.

"We'll go to Ocean Park and walk around the urban areas," she told RTHK.

"We also want to see the National Day fireworks. We don't have fireworks in Shanghai so we came to Hong Kong, as the children want to see the fireworks."

Another tourist from Shenzhen said he embarked on day trip to watch the fireworks and the drone show at night.

Last week, immigration officials estimated that on national day, there will be more than half a million arrivals.
_____________________________
Last updated: 2024-10-01 HKT 12:55