Thousands flock to Cheung Chau Bun Festival as six-day heatwave in Hong Kong keeps others away from annual event
Hong Kong Observatory reports high of more than 33 degrees Celsius for sixth day running
Visitor numbers for the Cheung Chau Bun Festival were down by a fifth on Tuesday as soaring temperatures in Hong Kong kept people away, with the island’s famous snack stalls apparently feeling the pinch more than souvenir sellers.
Still, thousands flocked to the outlying island for one of the cultural highlights of the year.
The annual event traditionally attracts tens of thousands of visitors, all keen to see the piu sik parade in the afternoon, and the bun scramble at midnight.
However, the city is in the middle of a record run of high temperatures for the time of year, with Tuesday the sixth day in a row when the temperature rose above 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit), the second-longest run of hot days during May in Hong Kong since 1963, a spokesman for the Observatory said.
From 8am to 9pm, 20,000 passengers took ferries to Cheung Chau from Central. The total number of ferry trips to and from the island were 21 per cent down on the same period last year, according to New World First Ferry.
Coinciding with the public holiday of Buddha’s Birthday, Tuesday was the peak of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, which started in late April this year.
While souvenir sellers said their business was unaffected, snack stall operators said sales were below expectations.