Tourist treat: Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa chats with visitors at WinterFest in Central after annoucing the extension of the Individual Visit Scheme.

The Individual Visit Scheme will be further extended to six Guangdong cities from January 1, Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa said today. They are Shantou, Chaozhou, Meizhou, Zhaoqing, Qingyuan and Yunfu.

At present, the scheme is implemented in 10 Mainland cities - Jiangmen, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Beijing and Shanghai.

Residents with permanent household registration in these cities can apply for an individual visit endorsement from the Public Security Bureau to visit Hong Kong.

As at December 29, over 650,000 Mainland residents visited Hong Kong under the scheme, spending an estimated $3.5 billion here.

It is believed that the extension will further benefit local tourism, retail and other related industries.

The HK Tourism Board is working with the travel trade to keep visitors abreast of activities and attractions in the city. The Tourism Commission will work with the board and the industry to maintain and enhance quality services and ensure consumer protection for tourists.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Department will deploy sufficient manpower to cope with the anticipated visitor surge.