Some 200,000 special booklets named What's On over Chinese New Year have been produced to provide information to visitors and residents about the exciting events and activities taking place in Hong Kong in the Lunar New Year.

The bilingual booklets will be distributed free of charge from tomorrow at key boundary control points, Visitors & Information Service Centres of the Tourism Board, major MTR and KCR stations, 18 District Offices, the Leisure & Cultural Services Department's venues, country parks managed by the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department as well as Ocean Park.

660,000 visitors expected

Based on the information and forecast gathered from various parties, an estimated 660,000 visitors are expected during the Chinese New Year 'golden 10 days' from February 5 to 14.

About 450,000 will come from the Mainland, up 10% over the same period last year. The proportion of Mainland individual visitors will increase from 39% of total Mainland visitors in the last Lunar New year to 55% this year.

Apart from Mainland visitors, there will be many overseas visitors, particularly from Japan and Korea.

Commissioner for Tourism Eva Cheng anticipated that more visitors will choose to spend their vacation in Hong Kong because of the South Asian tsunami incident.

"Some Hong Kong residents may also change their travel plans and stay home to celebrate the New Year," she added.

Many shops will remain open

According to the survey conducted by the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, 70% of its members will remain open during the New Year and many of their outlets located in the tourist districts will continue to operate during the period.

The Quality Tourism Services Association has also urged its members to operate business-as-usual during the Chinese New Year.

To ensure a smooth visitors' flow, government departments will adopt the series of measures that have been effective in the previous peak periods.

The Government has also maintained close liaison with the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration to understand more about the visitors flow.