The restrictions on mainland visitors being relaxed, or should I say erased, will pose a burden on Hong Kong and its people.
While tourism is important for the Hong Kong economy, consider some of the short-term and long-term ramifications of allowing in individual visitors:
The old restrictions were there for a reason. Not because we do not want mainland Chinese to come here, but because Hong Kong is a small city and without border restrictions the influx will be more than what our city can handle.
Many of the mainlanders will overstay their visit and try to mesh in with Hong Kong society. There will be all kinds of new social welfare issues. There really is no way for the Hong Kong government to control this.
The hygiene problem. As we are only just getting over the Sars outbreak, we should take a hard look at the hygienic problems many of the mainland Chinese will bring. They spit frequently and cough without covering their mouths. They have special eating habits that breed diseases which can spread from animals to humans, as we saw a few months ago. Let's not be complacent about this and face another Sars outbreak in the autumn.
Hong Kong is a special place not only to its people, but to millions of overseas tourists and business travellers. It is not a mainland Chinese city. Once you take away this edge, then what? I will tell you. Just another mainland Chinese city.