Many Hongkongers decided to spend their Easter break outside the SAR as the holiday got underway on Friday.

There were long queues at some check-in counters at Hong Kong airport in the morning.

A woman surnamed Hung and her son were among those heading to Japan for a week.

"We just headed to Japan in March. Japan is a popular tourist destination, so we decided to go again," she told RTHK.

A traveller surnamed Cheung said she would be in Bangkok for seven days to visit her relatives.

Some locals opted to head north for the long weekend.

At the West Kowloon high-speed rail station, a man surnamed Yau said he was travelling to Meizhou in Guangdong with more than 10 family members.

"We are only going for four days. We have to return to work after the holiday ends on Monday," he told RTHK.

"We expect each household to spend less than HK$10,000 for the trip."

Yuen Chun-ning, CEO of the travel agency WWPKG, said the number of travellers to Japan has reduced by half compared to the Easter break last year.

The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo earlier warned citizens about the risk of a megaquake, following a Japanese government report last month.

Yuen added that there has been a rise in the number of people heading to the mainland, and more people have opted to go to Dubai and Australia this Easter.