Holiday crowds pack Hong Kong, Macau ports

Huge numbers of people headed to the airport, railway station and border crossings on Wednesday as tens of thousands of travellers made the most of the public holiday to begin a post-Covid getaway.

With the Immigration Department predicting that as many as nine million people will enter or exit Hong Kong in the first 10 days of April, many people rushed to make the most of the Ching Ming Festival and the coming Easter weekend, leading to large crowds at all ports.

At the airport, some people complained of long waiting times. One man, who was travelling to Amsterdam, said he arrived to check in three hours before takeoff and found that there were far more people lining up than he had expected.

“[The airline company] should also consider increasing manpower and opening more counters to alleviate the pressure and reduce the wait time,” he said.

Another passenger said he had waited 45 minutes to check in.

Those heading to the mainland also faced long queues at the West Kowloon high-speed rail station. Long-distance trips to Shantou and Fuzhou, as well as short-distance tickets to Guangzhou East and Guangzhou South, sold out early.

Despite the crowds, some passengers said they found travelling by high-speed rail more convenient than flying. One woman said her group of 12 was going to Guiyang for six days to enjoy the spring flower bloom.

“I have tried taking the high-speed rail to Guangzhou before. To fly, I’d have to transfer in Shenzhen to go to Guiyang. It’s more convenient to take the high-speed rail directly,” she said.

People heading to Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, faced long queues at immigration with the Macau government’s real-time information platform showing a waiting time of up to 30 minutes. The situation eased into the evening.

In the afternoon. the Macau police force urged drivers to avoid going to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Port.

The big getaway is expected to continue in the coming days. The Immigration Department expected Friday to be the busiest travel day, with more than half a million people entering or exiting Hong Kong.