Organisers opted to go ahead with the event on Wednesday night, despite earlier concerns about the rainy weather.

Hong Kong Tourism Association executive director Timothy Chui Ting-pong told a radio programme on Thursday that the number of incoming mainland tourists recorded on Labour Day was quite satisfactory, but said some were left disappointed over the pyrotechnics.

Some users on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu complained that they could only see thick clouds of smoke during the event, with one saying they felt “scammed”.

One user said many tourists who watched the show from spots in Central and Admiralty had complained about the quality of the display.

“It was really below our expectations, we could only watch it for the first 10 seconds, the rest was just smoke. I wouldn’t have watched if I had known,” a user called Vicky wrote after setting up early outside the K11 Musea mall in Tsim Sha Tsui at 5pm to get a good view.

Another mainland tourist wrote: “I was speechless after watching the show … this display didn’t have fireworks that went very high into the sky. I am more excited about the one in Disneyland tomorrow.”

But the tourist said she had not regretted taking in the city’s beautiful skyline that night.

Other Xiaohongshu users said they managed to find a vantage point and enjoyed the event, with one tourist who took a nine-minute video describing the show as “very striking”.

Chui said he believed the tourists had felt satisfied overall but hoped the government could learn a lesson from its pyrotechnics shows, which are expected to be held monthly until at least the end of this year.

“Authorities should give out a clear message that the scale of these fireworks are different from the shows on Lunar New Year and National Day,” he said. “These large-scale fireworks can be observed in many places, but tourists can only get a clearer view in East Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai for the monthly fireworks.

“They should let tourists know more about it so they can find a better position.”

Hong Kong marks Labour Day with fireworks, but display fizzles out for some

The golden week holiday runs from May 1 to 5, with the city expected to welcome at least 800,000 mainland visitors over the break, part of the 5.9 million arrivals and departures predicted for the holiday.

On the first day of the holiday, more than 467,000 trips were made to the city, with mainland tourists accounting for 180,552 of them.

Over 340,000 outbound journeys were also recorded, including about 118,900 by mainland travellers and more than 195,000 local residents.

Industry veteran Chui said he believed the bad weather had discouraged some people from attending, while noting others might not plan on travelling to Hong Kong on the first day of the break.

He added that the hotel trade had performed well on the first day of the break, but said some tourists might have opted to spend the night in Shenzhen and return the next day to reduce costs. Others could have booked accommodation at the last minute, he said.

Thunderstorms threaten to put damper on Hong Kong’s Labour Day fireworks

Alan Chan Chung-yee, the chief operations officer of the Miramar Group, which runs two local hotels, said he observed an increase in walk-in tourists, a change from a past trend of travellers preferring to book in advance.

The bad weather had also prompted some travellers to cancel their bookings, but the operator saw about 60 walk-ins on Wednesday, helping to boost room occupancy from 82 per cent to 93 per cent for its hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, he noted.

“I believe that flights have changed a lot due to the heavy rain in the southern part of China, so tourists who cannot make an overseas journey have considered switching to a short trip to Hong Kong as a backup plan,” Chan told the same radio show.