Ready to go: Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says Hong Kong is prepared for an influx of Mainland visitors during Golden Week.

Boundary control points are poised to cope with the inflow of Mainland visitors during the National Day Golden Week, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says.

Measures have been drawn up to enhance the flow of visitors, increase the capacity of transportation facilities, and step up promotion and information dissemination to visitors.

Additional staff from the Immigration Department, Police and Customs & Excise Department will be sent to control points during the coming rush period, he added.

Mr Lee said he fully understood that staff will be operating under tremendous pressure.

"I have every confidence in the ability of our staff in receiving our visitors and enhancing their travel experience in Hong Kong," he said.

Measures in place to speed up clearance 

To facilitate clearance, "expeditious immigration clearance" and new optical-character-recognition readers have been introduced at busier control points to increase the handling capacity.

Mr Lee visited the Joint Command Centre at Lo Wu which had become operational from September 27 to monitor visitor flow and traffic situation at land boundary control points and to take prompt action if necessary.

The command centre is manned by staff from the Immigration Department, Police, Customs & Excise Department, Transport Department, Tourism Commission, KCRC and Shenzhen authorities.

Major improvement works at the Lok Ma Chau control point have been completed, with the number of immigration clearance counters increased from 35 to 50.

Mr Lee noted that this will significantly improve the immigration clearance process.