The Immigration Department expects 5.54 million people to pass through land, sea and air control points during the Labour Day holiday period, up 15.7% on last year. Among them, 4.25 million will travel by land, up 16.3%.

The peak period will be April 30 to May 9 with 2.79 million passengers (a daily average of 279,000) passing through Lo Wu control point. Departing passengers at Lo Wu will hit 190,000 on April 30, while peak of arrivals will fall on May 2 with 200,000 people. Highest daily traffic is expected to reach 350,000 on April 30.

Commissioner for Tourism Eva Cheng expects about 460,000 Mainlanders to visit Hong Kong during the holiday. She said the Tourism Commission has co-ordinated work between government departments and the tourism industry in preparing for the surge, to enhance the flow of visitors through boundary control points, increasing transport capacity, and stepping up promotion and information dissemination on consumer protection.

Golden Week is the traditional peak travel period for Mainland tourists and Hong Kong is a popular destination. The Immigration Department foresees 460,000 Mainland arrivals between April 30 and May 9. More than half will be on the Individual Visitor Scheme visitors and about 12% will come in groups.

To cope with anticipated traffic demand, the department has arranged for 209 officers to reinforce land and sea control points through internal deployment. Among them, 178 officers will be deployed to various land boundary control points. The department and Shenzhen authorities will strengthen co-operation and liaison to ensure smooth and orderly passenger traffic.