Hong Kong’s bun festival on Cheung Chau may attract 60,000 visitors amid ramped-up promotion drive: organisers
- Chairman of festival’s organising committee upbeat attendance levels for Wednesday’s event will exceed 40,000 visitors recorded last year
- But Cheung Chau bun maker says he is less optimistic as people will need to work next day, unlike last year’s event, which fell on a Friday
But a local bun maker has said he is less optimistic since the festival, which takes place on Buddha’s Birthday, will not fall on a Friday unlike the year before, meaning most people will need to work the next day.
Hong Kong Cheung Chau Bun Festival Committee chairman Yung Chi-ming, however, remained upbeat and said he believed attendance for this year’s event would surpass the 40,000 visitors recorded last year.
“I believe there will be more visitors this year, hopefully about 60,000,” he said. “There has been much more promotion this year, including a drone show by the Tourism Board featuring bun towers over the past weekend, which could draw crowds.”
Fanny Yeung Shuk-fun, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, also expected a surge in visitor numbers compared with last year, fuelled by the sharing of travel tips on the Instagram-like Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
“I think there will be more people this year as last year’s festival wasn’t that long after the reopening of borders,” Yeung said.
But Martin Kwok, who runs Kwok Kam Kee Cake Shop on Cheung Chau, a bakery known for its ping an, the festival’s signature “peace” buns, expected a drop in visitors based on his own observations over the past few days.