City sees nearly 100,000 tourists on first day of long weekend

The city has recorded 96,305 tourist arrivals as of 9 p.m. last night, the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) has forecasted that China will see a surge in inbound and outbound passenger flows during the long weekend.

For exit-entry passengers between Guangdong and Macao and Hong Kong, the port of Gongbei was expected to handle a daily average of 320,000, according to the NIA.

Provisional data released by the Public Security Police shows that majority of the tourists, 37,524 arrivals were from the Border Gate, while 20,604 arrived from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

Yesterday, integrated resorts in Cotai and public transportation were packed with tourists.

In the morning, the Border Gate was already busy with people, and there was a long queue in the waiting area of the hotel coaches.

The police deployed additional manpower to maintain order.

In China, more people hit the road on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, official data showed.

Some 30.95 million road trips was made yesterday, up 66.3% year on year. The country’s number of waterway trips is expected to soar 164.82% from a year earlier to 1 million, the Ministry of Transport said.

China’s railways likely handled 16.2 million trips, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

Some 13.86 million railway trips were made on Wednesday, up 11.8% from the same period of 2019.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. LV