Hong Kong’s Immigration Department has published provisional statistics showing 1.77 million visitor arrivals over the nine-day Lunar New Year Golden Week (15–23 February), a 14 percent year-on-year jump and the highest festive inflow since borders fully reopened.
Mainland Chinese travellers dominated with 1.5 million entries, underscoring deepening integration under the Greater Bay Area blueprint. Overseas arrivals reached 267,000, helped by aggressive airline capacity boosts and the city’s permanent scrapping of PCR requirements. The busiest day was 17 February, when more than 240,000 visitors crossed.
Corporate travel planners looking to capitalise on this buoyant flow may want to outsource the red tape: VisaHQ’s China desk (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can arrange Hong Kong entry permits for mainland staff and secure China visas for overseas delegates in one streamlined online process, cutting lead times and preventing last-minute border surprises.
![Hong Kong logs 1.77 million visitor arrivals during Lunar New Year peak]()
For businesses, the surge stresses the need to plan around peak congestion at Lo Wu and West Kowloon checkpoints—key gateways for Shenzhen-based staff commuting to Hong Kong offices. Several firms activated remote-work contingencies after rail tickets sold out within minutes during the holiday.
Tourism officials noted that hotel occupancy averaged 92 percent, with ADRs up 18 percent on 2025 levels. Forward bookings suggest sustained momentum into March trade-fair season (Art Basel, FILMART). Mobility managers sending delegates should secure accommodation well in advance and budget for higher per-diems.
Separately, the Immigration Department confirmed it will roll out 26 additional e-Channels at Hong Kong International Airport by April, aiming to cut arrival processing times ahead of Easter traffic.
Mainland Chinese travellers dominated with 1.5 million entries, underscoring deepening integration under the Greater Bay Area blueprint. Overseas arrivals reached 267,000, helped by aggressive airline capacity boosts and the city’s permanent scrapping of PCR requirements. The busiest day was 17 February, when more than 240,000 visitors crossed.
Corporate travel planners looking to capitalise on this buoyant flow may want to outsource the red tape: VisaHQ’s China desk (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can arrange Hong Kong entry permits for mainland staff and secure China visas for overseas delegates in one streamlined online process, cutting lead times and preventing last-minute border surprises.
For businesses, the surge stresses the need to plan around peak congestion at Lo Wu and West Kowloon checkpoints—key gateways for Shenzhen-based staff commuting to Hong Kong offices. Several firms activated remote-work contingencies after rail tickets sold out within minutes during the holiday.
Tourism officials noted that hotel occupancy averaged 92 percent, with ADRs up 18 percent on 2025 levels. Forward bookings suggest sustained momentum into March trade-fair season (Art Basel, FILMART). Mobility managers sending delegates should secure accommodation well in advance and budget for higher per-diems.
Separately, the Immigration Department confirmed it will roll out 26 additional e-Channels at Hong Kong International Airport by April, aiming to cut arrival processing times ahead of Easter traffic.
