Hong Kong receives twice as many mainland Chinese visitors on New Year’s Day

Twice as many mainland Chinese visitors arrived in Hong Kong on New Year’s Day compared with the same day in 2025, with industry representatives on Friday attributing the surge to a three-day holiday across the border and travel warnings against Japan. A day earlier, Hong Kong’s Immigration Department registered 215,332 mainland visitors arriving in the city on New Year’s Day, more than double the 106,290 recorded on the same day last year. The number of overall visitors on Thursday stood at 256,108, an 88 per cent increase from 135,643 recorded on January 1, 2025. Alan Chan Chung-yee, a legislator and chief operating officer of Miramar Group, said on Friday that deteriorating relations between China and Japan had prompted some mainland travellers to opt for Hong Kong instead. “To mainlanders, Hong Kong has a better Christmas atmosphere as the festival isn’t big on the mainland. Many visitors have opted to travel to the city from Christmas to New Year,” Chan told the media. “We also have mega-events to attract them, making Hong Kong a good replacement for Japan.” Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo have intensified since early last November, when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said any use of force against Taiwan could be perceived as a “survival-threatening situation”, which would permit Tokyo to deploy the Japan Self-Defence Forces. Chinese authorities subsequently urged citizens against visiting Japan “in the near term”, prompting Chinese carriers to cancel flights to the country, including those for the Christmas and New Year holiday season. Chinese airlines went on to cancel more than 40 per cent of their December flights between the two countries. Earlier that month, Takaichi sought to ease tensions by saying Tokyo’s position remained “unchanged” from a 1972 joint communique with China. Another reason given for the uptick was the mainland’s 2026 New Year’s Day holiday, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, with Sunday adjusted as a workday. The increase was also recorded despite Hong Kong opting to cancel its annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display in the aftermath of the city’s deadliest fire in decades. At least 161 people were killed and nearly 5,000 were displaced by the tragedy in November. Discussing the travel trend on Friday, Chan said: “Many people would leave Hong Kong after one night [in previous years], but this time they are staying for two nights.” Bookings at Miramar hotels in the city were nearly full for the holiday season, with room rates increasing by a double-digit percentage from last year due to higher demand prompted by the longer break on the mainland, he added. The lawmaker also highlighted concerts by mainland singer Zhou Shen at Kai Tak Stadium on December 31 and January 1, and by local singer Jacky Cheung Hok-yau at Hong Kong Coliseum this month, as key attractions for mainland tourists. “[Zhou’s concert] is different from other concerts, as over half the audience are mainland visitors,” he said. With both concerts held in venues in Kowloon, Chan said the events would boost hotel reservations in the area, ensuring they were fully booked over the season. Chan added that Kai Tak Stadium had built up its brand and would attract more major acts to hold performances there in the future. Kai Tak Sports Park hosted more than 40 international and local events across 90 days in 2025, attracting over 7 million visitors, a spokesman said on Friday. On New Year’s Eve, the park received 120,000 visitors, with the spokesman attributing the number to Zhou’s concert at the park’s main stadium. “Before the concert, restaurants and food courts were packed, and even after the show, audiences were still immersed in the atmosphere and enjoying themselves,” the spokesman said. LH Group chairman Simon Wong Kit-lung said business at his restaurants was better than the same period last year, recording a single-digit percentage increase. Lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai, who represents the retail and wholesale sector, said the festive vibe in the city had managed to attract both mainland and overseas visitors, contributing to business for local retailers. But he stopped short of revealing the extent of the increase, instead stressing that there would inevitably be consumption by tourists over the period. Official figures showed that Hong Kong welcomed 40,776 non-mainland visitors on Thursday, an increase of nearly 39 per cent from January 1, 2025. “I won’t rule out that tensions between China and Japan contributed to the influx of mainland tourists,” he said, but added that retail performance had not resumed to the level seen in 2018. November last year saw the city’s retail sales continue to recover, up by 6.5 per cent year on year to HK$33.7 billion (US$4.3 billion). The figure marked the third consecutive month of year-on-year growth that surpassed 6 per cent. In the first 11 months of 2025, retail sales grew 11.4 per cent from the same period last year.

Hong Kong receives twice as many mainland Chinese visitors on New Year’s Day

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Industry leaders attribute rise to three-day holiday on mainland and strained Beijing-Tokyo ties drawing some to Hong Kong instead of Japan

Industry leaders attribute rise to three-day holiday on mainland and strained Beijing-Tokyo ties drawing some to Hong Kong instead of Japan