Number of Hongkongers leaving city over Christmas holiday rose by 50%

The number of local residents leaving Hong Kong between December 25 and 26 increased by about 50 per cent from last year, while the city also recorded a slight uptick in incoming mainland Chinese tourists over the Christmas holiday.

Immigration Department data showed that 905,035 local residents had left Hong Kong on Christmas Day and Boxing Day of this year, a 50.7 per cent increase from the 599,083 who departed from the city over the same period in 2023.

While many residents departed the city over the holiday, the Post observed crowds at Christmas markets in Stanley and West Kowloon Cultural District, as well as shoppers flocking to commercial spaces such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay.

“Some people were worried before the holiday whether Hong Kong would become a dead city as many Hongkongers would travel during the break,” Simon Wong Kit-lung, chairman of the Quality Tourism Services Association, told a TV programme that aired on Saturday.

“Now you can clearly see that such fears have absolutely not materialised in the past few days. There are many Hongkongers travelling, but those who stay here are actually willing to spend and want to have fun.”

Wong, who is also executive director of restaurant chain LH Group, said that while business in the catering sector had increased by up to a fifth this month compared with November, overall receipts remained about 5 to 10 per cent lower than last December.