Hong Kong’s Immigration Department confirmed today that control points by land, sea and air processed almost six million passenger movements between 24 and 28 December, the first five-day Christmas stretch since all pandemic curbs were lifted in early 2024. The single-busiest 24-hour period was Christmas Day itself, when 1.25 million travellers streamed across the city’s nine land checkpoints, three ferry terminals and the airport.
Officials said departures (about 3.7 million) out-numbered arrivals, reflecting a strong outbound appetite among residents for short breaks in neighbouring Guangdong, long-haul holidays and cheaper flights via Shenzhen and Guangzhou airports. Arrivals nevertheless topped 2.2 million, buoyed by 280 000 visitors from mainland China and a noticeable uptick in long-haul tourists drawn by the city’s reinvigorated events calendar and weak Hong Kong dollar.
Amid this renewed cross-border momentum, travellers unsure about entry requirements for destinations beyond Guangdong—whether it's securing a Vietnamese e-visa or navigating paperwork for Europe’s upcoming ETIAS—can streamline the process through VisaHQ’s Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/). The service provides up-to-date visa information, digital application tools and courier support, helping Hong Kong residents and visitors alike avoid administrative snags and keep holiday queues to a minimum.
![Hong Kong logs nearly 6 million cross-border trips over the Christmas long-weekend]()
Operationally, the Lo Wu rail checkpoint handled the heaviest load—over 280 000 passengers on 25 December—while Lok Ma Chau and Shenzhen Bay each cleared more than 150 000. Immigration officers reported average queue times of under 20 minutes thanks to additional e-Channel lanes, facial-recognition gates and the deployment of 680 extra seasonal staff.
For businesses, the statistics confirm that Hong Kong’s cross-boundary labour market has normalised: thousands of daily workers who live in Shenzhen but staff Hong Kong’s retail, construction and hospitality sectors crossed the border without major delay, mitigating holiday-period labour shortages. Retailers around Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay also benefitted from mainland shopping traffic, with union estimates suggesting Christmas sales were 12 % higher than in 2024.
Looking ahead, the Transport & Logistics Bureau expects similar daily volumes for the upcoming New Year’s Eve fireworks and the Lunar New Year peak in late January. Companies that rely on just-in-time deliveries or staff rotations are therefore advised to book coach seats, ferries and rail tickets well in advance and to remind mobile employees to enrol for automated e-Channel clearance to shave critical minutes off each trip.
Officials said departures (about 3.7 million) out-numbered arrivals, reflecting a strong outbound appetite among residents for short breaks in neighbouring Guangdong, long-haul holidays and cheaper flights via Shenzhen and Guangzhou airports. Arrivals nevertheless topped 2.2 million, buoyed by 280 000 visitors from mainland China and a noticeable uptick in long-haul tourists drawn by the city’s reinvigorated events calendar and weak Hong Kong dollar.
Amid this renewed cross-border momentum, travellers unsure about entry requirements for destinations beyond Guangdong—whether it's securing a Vietnamese e-visa or navigating paperwork for Europe’s upcoming ETIAS—can streamline the process through VisaHQ’s Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/). The service provides up-to-date visa information, digital application tools and courier support, helping Hong Kong residents and visitors alike avoid administrative snags and keep holiday queues to a minimum.
Operationally, the Lo Wu rail checkpoint handled the heaviest load—over 280 000 passengers on 25 December—while Lok Ma Chau and Shenzhen Bay each cleared more than 150 000. Immigration officers reported average queue times of under 20 minutes thanks to additional e-Channel lanes, facial-recognition gates and the deployment of 680 extra seasonal staff.
For businesses, the statistics confirm that Hong Kong’s cross-boundary labour market has normalised: thousands of daily workers who live in Shenzhen but staff Hong Kong’s retail, construction and hospitality sectors crossed the border without major delay, mitigating holiday-period labour shortages. Retailers around Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay also benefitted from mainland shopping traffic, with union estimates suggesting Christmas sales were 12 % higher than in 2024.
Looking ahead, the Transport & Logistics Bureau expects similar daily volumes for the upcoming New Year’s Eve fireworks and the Lunar New Year peak in late January. Companies that rely on just-in-time deliveries or staff rotations are therefore advised to book coach seats, ferries and rail tickets well in advance and to remind mobile employees to enrol for automated e-Channel clearance to shave critical minutes off each trip.
