The great holiday exodus is back. Immigration Department statistics released on 20 February show that Hongkongers made 1.44 million outbound trips from Lunar New Year’s Eve (16 February) through the third day of the holiday. That is 20.4 per cent higher than the equivalent 2019 period, underscoring how quickly pent-up demand for cross-border leisure and family visits has returned. Most residents headed north: Lo Wu, Shenzhen Bay and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge accounted for nearly two-thirds of all departures.
![Outbound travel hits 1.44 million trips in first four days of Lunar New Year]()
For travellers eager to join the cross-border resurgence but unsure about visa requirements, VisaHQ offers a streamlined application and advisory service covering more than 200 destinations, with dedicated support for Hong Kong residents at https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/ A few clicks online can secure the right documents well before peak-season bottlenecks, freeing holiday-makers and business travellers alike to focus on itineraries rather than paperwork.
Airlines also reported full flights to short-haul favourites such as Bangkok, Taipei and Tokyo, with business-class cabins close to pre-pandemic load factors. Inbound flows tell a different story. Mainland visitor arrivals over the same four-day stretch fell 12.8 per cent versus 2019, and non-mainland arrivals were down 4.4 per cent. Industry groups blame high hotel rates, the strong Hong Kong dollar and lingering perceptions about protests—even though the city has been calm for more than four years. For employers the numbers have two implications. First, staff mobility to and from the mainland is now roughly back to normal; HR teams planning rotations should expect tighter seat inventory around Chinese festivals. Second, client visits to Hong Kong may remain subdued until inbound tourism fully recovers, so firms should build digital engagement into business-development budgets. Tourism board officials said a marketing blitz targeting Southeast Asia and the Middle East will launch in March, coupled with a refreshed Mega Events Calendar aimed at converting stop-over traffic generated by the May opening of HKIA’s Terminal 2. Whether those measures narrow the inbound–outbound gap by Golden Week in October will be a key test of Hong Kong’s post-pandemic brand appeal.
For travellers eager to join the cross-border resurgence but unsure about visa requirements, VisaHQ offers a streamlined application and advisory service covering more than 200 destinations, with dedicated support for Hong Kong residents at https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/ A few clicks online can secure the right documents well before peak-season bottlenecks, freeing holiday-makers and business travellers alike to focus on itineraries rather than paperwork.
Airlines also reported full flights to short-haul favourites such as Bangkok, Taipei and Tokyo, with business-class cabins close to pre-pandemic load factors. Inbound flows tell a different story. Mainland visitor arrivals over the same four-day stretch fell 12.8 per cent versus 2019, and non-mainland arrivals were down 4.4 per cent. Industry groups blame high hotel rates, the strong Hong Kong dollar and lingering perceptions about protests—even though the city has been calm for more than four years. For employers the numbers have two implications. First, staff mobility to and from the mainland is now roughly back to normal; HR teams planning rotations should expect tighter seat inventory around Chinese festivals. Second, client visits to Hong Kong may remain subdued until inbound tourism fully recovers, so firms should build digital engagement into business-development budgets. Tourism board officials said a marketing blitz targeting Southeast Asia and the Middle East will launch in March, coupled with a refreshed Mega Events Calendar aimed at converting stop-over traffic generated by the May opening of HKIA’s Terminal 2. Whether those measures narrow the inbound–outbound gap by Golden Week in October will be a key test of Hong Kong’s post-pandemic brand appeal.
