Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki visited Shenzhen this morning to meet Mayor of the Shenzhen Municipal Government Qin Weizhong with a view to better addressing the increasing demand for cross-boundary travel.
 
The number of passenger trips between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has recorded new highs over and over again in the past weekends.
 
The total cross-boundary passenger traffic on August 10 reached 1.34 million, surpassing all previous records.
 
The Liantang Port/Heung Yuen Wai boundary control point (BCP), in particular, is a popular choice among Mainland tour groups. During peak hours, some Mainland tour groups had to wait for a longer time on the Shenzhen side before crossing the boundary into Hong Kong.
 
With the implementation of multipronged measures, the waiting time for both outbound and inbound travellers at the Hong Kong BCP is less than 15 minutes.
 
Mr Chan shared that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been proactively preparing for peak weekend passenger traffic, including operating additional counters and e-Channels, as well as setting up temporary counters at BCPs.
 
Through flexible manpower deployment, all clearance counters and kiosks at busy BCPs are operated to ease passenger and vehicular flows, ensuring smooth and orderly immigration clearance.
 
At the meeting, both sides agreed that the government departments of the two places at BCPs will strengthen communication and co-operation further, and plan ahead in response to the latest trends.
 
Both sides will also reinforce the existing joint notification mechanism to improve communication, information sharing and dissemination, with the aim of enhancing the clearance capacity of BCPs.
 
Given the popularity of the Liantang Port/Heung Yuen Wai BCP among Mainland tour groups, and the concentrated arrival of these groups at weekends, both sides will actively explore ways to strengthen strategic communication and collaboration and further share operational experience with the goal of enhancing the experience of Mainland tour groups crossing the boundary into Hong Kong.
 
Noting that the number of cross-boundary passenger trips between Hong Kong and Shenzhen continues to hit record highs, Mr Chan said that not only does this fully reflect the mutual engagement between the people of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, but it also continuously injects momentum into the economic development of both places.
 
He thanked the Shenzhen Municipal Government for its ongoing and strong support for BCP operations. He also thanked relevant departments of the two places at BCPs for their long-term and close co-operation in managing every peak travel period together.
 
Also attending the meeting were Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung, Director of Immigration Benson Kwok and Commissioner of Customs & Excise Chan Tsz-tat.
 
Mr Chan and the delegation returned to Hong Kong in the afternoon.