Hong Kong tour groups bound for the mainland have surged by 30 percent this Easter and Ching Ming holiday compared to a year ago, a sector representative said on Friday.

Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, told an RTHK radio programme that the number of both short- and long-haul trips to the mainland by high-speed rail had increased, partly due to the situation in the Middle East.

"The local economy has improved, and people are more willing to spend, so they thought maybe they could go on trips," he said.

"As for why more people chose to head to the mainland, I think especially in the past month, some had planned to go to Europe or to the Middle East during the Easter holiday," he said.

"But due to the hostilities in the Middle East and the flight arrangements for Europe, many of them eventually decided to switch to mainland destinations instead."

As the mainland also enjoys a three-day holiday starting on Saturday, he expects the peak for inbound tourists to be on the same day, adding that many high-speed rail tickets bound for the SAR had already been snapped up.

Chui believes this group will mainly consist of people from the Greater Bay Area and Guangxi looking for a short break in Hong Kong.

The Immigration Department estimates that the total number of arrivals and departures during the Easter and Ching Ming holidays will amount to 6.44 million.



Edited by Robert Kemp