Hong Kong is preparing for a surge of Mainland visitors during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Commissioner for Tourism Eva Cheng said the measures will enhance the flow of visitors through immigration checkpoints, increase transport capacity, and boost promotion and information dissemination to tourists on consumer protection and health.

"The measures adopted for National Day Golden Week and Christmas/New Year were effective and demonstrated our capacity in receiving a large volume of visitors," Ms Cheng said.

"We need to make the best possible preparations and will continue with and strengthen those measures that have proven effective. We endeavour to enhance the travel experience of every visitor to Hong Kong." 

The measures cover:

* arrangements for immigration clearance at boundary control points;

* protection of visitors' health;

* arrangement of facilities;

* information dissemination;

* visitors' information service;

* consumer protection; and,

* co-ordination with Guangdong Province.

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Ms Cheng said all the measures are, by and large, the same as those used for Golden Week.

"The departments concerned are well-prepared and will flexibly deploy the resources according to different situations," she said. "We will also maintain close liaison with the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration to understand more about the visitor flow."

The Travel Industry Council, Federation of HK Hotel Owners and HK Hotels Association have agreed to standardise the existing practice in hotel room reservations into a 'Good Business Practice' to ensure a high level of transparency.

Ms Cheng said: "I am glad to see the three industry organisations agreeing to strengthen their co-ordination and improve the quality of service in the tourism industry."

Good Business Practice covers the early release of information by hotels on room charges, availability and allocation, cancellation policies and deposit arrangements.