Hong Kong's image as a tourist destination is being tarnished by queues of up to an hour long for incoming passengers at the immigration counters of Chek Lap Kok, the city's tourism board chief warns.
James Tien Pei-chun has twice since September written to Director of Immigration Eric Chan Kwok-ki to alert him to complaints over the queues for non-resident passengers and asking for urgent action to reduce waiting times.
Complaints to the Tourism Board - echoed by postings on international traveller websites - suggest the queues are an increasing niggle for overseas visitors and Tien says it is hindering Hong Kong's drive to be Asia's 'world city'.
The Immigration Department says it is tackling the problem and claims that while there are bottlenecks, its own surveys show that fewer than 2 per cent of non-resident visitors queue for 15 minutes or more at the airport.
Tien suggests the issue could be solved with greater flexibility over the manning of immigration counters, and the hiring of '15 to 20 more immigration officers' to man empty desks at peak arrival times.
'We have one of the most efficient cities in the world but queues at immigration in the airport are probably the most inefficient part of Hong Kong - unfortunately, this is the first impression many people have of Hong Kong,' he said.