Think tank tells Beijing number of mainlanders visiting Hong Kong could be cut

Researchers for the central government have suggested cutting the number of mainland tourists to Hong Kong.

"We agree there have been too many individual travellers visiting Hong Kong in recent years, causing various kinds of inconvenience for Hong Kong residents," said a researcher whose team had submitted a report on the subject to the top leadership.

"We note that mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong has serious reservations about the phenomena [and] suggested in our reports to the central government that there was a need to adjust the number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong," the researcher said.

The researcher's team had made frequent trips to the city to interview residents about their opinions on the influx.

The news comes days after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying sought input from members of the Commission on Strategic Development over the possibility of a 20 per cent cut in the 40 million mainlanders visiting Hong Kong every year.

Leung later played down suggestions the government was considering cutting the number of mainland visitors, saying it was merely considering views about how to handle the influx, which it projects will reach 100 million annually by 2020.