The Immigration Department on Tuesday said staffing levels will be boosted to handle an expected surge in cross-boundary travel during the upcoming Easter and Ching Ming holidays.

In a statement, authorities said they estimate total arrivals and departures will hit 6.44 million.

Of these, about 5.43 million are expected to use land boundary control points, according to projections made in consultation with the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection and other mainland agencies.

Departures are expected to peak on Good Friday, with 712,000, while arrivals are tipped to be at the highest on Tuesday – the day after Easter Monday – at 671,000.

The Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau Spur Line and Shenzhen Bay checkpoints are forecast to be busy, handling an estimated daily average of 240,000, 220,000 and 184,000 respectively.

"To cope with the anticipated heavy traffic during the festive period, the Immigration Department has minimised leave for frontline officers for flexible deployment and operation of additional counters, temporary counters and channels," it said.

"Additional security guards will also be deployed to provide crowd management support."

The department said a joint command centre will be set up at the Lo Wu control point, bringing together immigration, police, customs and MTR representatives to coordinate real-time responses.

Immigration officials added that they will maintain close communication with mainland authorities to ensure smooth passenger flow and implement traffic diversion measures as needed.


Edited by Thomas McAlinden