Hong Kong logs 1.06 million visitor arrivals in first four days as Immigration Department deploys extra counters

By the halfway mark of China’s National Day holiday, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region had already welcomed 1.06 million visitor arrivals, 939,000 of whom came from the mainland, the Immigration Department confirmed on 5 October. The daily average of 264,000 arrivals is running more than five percent ahead of the 2025 holiday period, underscoring the territory’s accelerating tourism recovery. Officials credit the smoother flow to tactical measures rolled out at land crossings: extra vehicle-clearance kiosks at Shenzhen Bay and Lok Ma Chau, a 30 percent increase in front-line immigration officers and extension of “single-window” joint inspection hours with Guangdong authorities. The West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus—reopened only 18 months ago—has become the second-busiest entry point after Lo Wu, handling roughly 20 percent of inbound foot traffic. For businesses, higher footfall translates into spill-over demand for accommodation, retail and short-term meeting space. Corporate travel managers report that weekday hotel rates in Kowloon have climbed to within 10 percent of pre-pandemic levels, while serviced-apartment providers are tightening cancellation policies. Companies relocating staff during October should lock in housing early or consider emerging inventory in the New Territories. The Immigration Department projects total mainland arrivals could hit 1.29 million by 7 October. To cope with the imminent outbound peak, employers with cross-boundary commuters are advised to stagger shifts on 8–9 October, when land checkpoint queues historically reach their longest. Airlines operating the Hong Kong–mainland trunk routes have already announced wide-body up-gauges for the weekend to absorb demand. Policy-wise, the flow numbers will strengthen calls by Hong Kong officials for further relaxation of multiple-entry endorsements and expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme to more mainland cities—changes that, if approved by Beijing, could permanently raise the territory’s business-mobility baseline.