Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki today chaired a meeting of the interdepartmental working group on festival arrangements to holistically co-ordinate and steer government departments’ preparatory work for welcoming visitors to Hong Kong during the Mainland’s National Day Golden Week from October 1 to 8.

Deputy Chief Secretary Cheuk Wing-hing, Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung, Secretary for Transport & Logistics Mable Chan and Under Secretary for Environment & Ecology Diane Wong attended the meeting.

Noting that Mainland’s National Day Golden Week overlaps with the Mid-Autumn Festival, Mr Chan said: “We estimate a notable increase in visitor arrivals during the National Day Golden Week of the Mainland. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will make good preparations for receiving visitors, as well as maintaining close liaison with relevant organisations and the travel trade to prepare well for crowd management, information dissemination and arrangements of public transportation and boundary control points, with a view to providing a quality experience to residents and visitors in celebration of National Day.”

According to the Immigration Department’s estimate, around 8.76 million passengers, including Hong Kong residents and visitors, will pass through the city’s sea, land and air control points during the upcoming golden week, among whom 7.52 million will pass through land control points.

While the department has gauged that the peak period of outbound passengers using land boundary control points is expected to be October 4, with around 660,000 passengers, it estimates that the peak period of inbound passengers is expected to be October 1, with around 610,000 passengers.

In terms of Mainland inbound visitors, it is estimated that around 1.54 million passengers will visit Hong Kong via various sea, land and air control points.

The Government remarked that in view of the anticipated large number of tourists visiting Sai Kung High Island Reservoir East Dam, Police have taken targeted measures, including deploying uniformed officers at strategic locations at Pak Tam Chung, Man Yee Road and East Dam, for traffic and crowd management during peak visitor arrival and departure periods.

Moreover, the Transport Department has co-ordinated with the operator to enhance the service of Green Minibus Route No. 9A (from Pak Tam Chung to the East Dam) subject to passenger demand, as well as to reserve standby vehicles and drivers. Service frequencies will also be flexibly strengthened in co-ordination with the traffic control measures implemented by Police.