Nathan Road parade set to swell New Year crowds
About 100,000 people - more than in previous years - are expected to pack the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui to welcome the Year of the Tiger on February 14, also Valentine's Day.
The annual night parade of floats and performers, organised by the Tourism Board, will for the first time pass along Haiphong Road and Nathan Road. Last year, the 90- minute parade travelled up and down Salisbury Road, along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront.
The route was changed largely in response to retailers and restaurants that want to take part in the festivities, according to a Tourism Board spokesman. Nathan Road is lined with shops selling watches, jewellery and electronics, as well as hotels and popular restaurants. The new route will still start from the Cultural Centre and end at New World Centre.
While the route change will be cheered by businesses, it could pose a security headache for the police in the wake of a spate of acid attacks, as the crowds will now be packed into already heavily pedestrianised areas.
Bottles of acid thrown from a height in public areas in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay have made people uneasy and put the police on alert despite the recent arrest of a suspect.
Board chairman James Tien Pei-chun said the police had appropriate measures in place to secure the new route.
The parade, now in its 15th year, is a major draw for mainland and overseas visitors. Tien said he was confident that the number of mainland visitors in the first week of the Lunar New Year would rise by about 10 per cent from a year ago, given that their numbers had already grown by over 6 per cent in the first 25 days of this year.
The board has budgeted about HK$6.8 million to promote Hong Kong to mainlanders this year, up from HK$4.2 million last year.
About HK$20 million has been spent on organising the parade, which features 14 floats and 26 local and overseas performance groups. The parade will feature the debut of a Hong Kong National Geopark float and performances by the acrobatic Paris fireman group, Japanese mascot characters, flag wavers from Italy, Russian folk dancers and more.
First-time performers from Hong Kong include jazz and hip hop dancers from SDM Jazz & Ballet Academie and others.
This year, the first day of the Lunar New Year falls on Valentine's Day for the first time in 57 years.
It will be 38 years before this occurs again.
