Sparks must fly after thousands stranded in Hong Kong
- Experience of visitors who could not get home to mainland China after Hong Kong’s new year fireworks should never be repeated
The return of the new year fireworks over Victoria Harbour has given Hong Kong some much-needed positive coverage on international news and social media.
But the city also earned negative publicity when a journey to watch the 12-minute spectacle turned into a nightmare for scores of mainland day trippers stranded overnight.
Tourism authorities must work with stakeholders to ensure such a bad travel experience is not repeated.
With a crowd of nearly half a million people, the extravaganza on Sunday was expected to experience some transport trouble.
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But, while most locals eventually made their way home without problems, many revellers from the north were forced to remain on the street or inside train stations overnight while waiting for cross-border checkpoints and services to resume yesterday morning.