The Hong Kong Tourism Association said on Friday that even though the city saw a rise in outbound tour groups over the Lunar New Year holiday, it was smaller than the increase in 2024 when the city celebrated the festival for the first time since the lifting of Covid restrictions.

Speaking on an RTHK radio programme, executive director Timothy Chui said many of the tours were destined for Japan and South Korea.

He said a flight was scheduled to Japan every 15 minutes, joking that it was even more frequent than buses.

Chui said there were two factors leading to the change in the increment of tour groups.

"[First] this Lunar New Year holiday and the Christmas holiday are just separated by about 20 days, which is very close," he explained.

"Second, last year there was [so-called] 'revenge spending'. Customers signed up for tours. They didn't ask about prices, they just wanted to know if tours were available and how many vacancies there were. But this year, they've been comparing packages on offer - and prices."

He said tour prices were similar to last year, except for those heading to the Greater Bay Area that cost slightly more.

Chui revealed while usually only around 500 tours were bound for the mainland on the weekend, a daily 600 to 800 tour groups had set off for the mainland in the past few days.

As for incoming tour groups, he said those staying overnight accounted for 50 percent of the total number of visitors.

Chui said the number of mainlanders entering the SAR through the Shenzhen Bay port on Lunar New Year's Eve had surged by about 43 percent year-on-year. He said the increase was mainly due to the resumption of multi-entry permits for Shenzhen residents.

He added that hotels were almost 100 percent full between Lunar New Year's Eve and Saturday, and the figure will only start to come down next Monday and Tuesday.