Relief for Tung Chung residents as crowds ease
Official measures to ease the tourist influx at Tung Chung near the new cross-border sea bridge on Lantau Island resulted in smaller crowds yesterday, much to the relief of residents.
At 12pm, no flag-wielding tour groups were spotted in the residential area near the port facility of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Visitors were mostly individuals seen sitting on benches or walking around mall areas.
This marked a stark contrast to previous weekends when the town was flooded with thousands of mainland tourists who came in groups on public transport. Most were on day trips, eager to experience the 55km bridge, the world’s longest sea crossing, which opened in late October.
By 8pm yesterday, 27,622 inbound travellers had used the bridge, about 8 per cent fewer than at the same time last week.
According to the Travel Industry Council, about 260 registered tours passed through the bridge this weekend, compared with a peak of 432 two weeks ago, and 354 last week.
Since the link opened for traffic on October 24, Tung Chung residents have been up in arms about their neighbourhood being flooded by visitors, with local activists launching protests last month.
On November 2, the Hong Kong government introduced measures to reduce the travel chaos arising from the bridge, such as boosting the fleet of portto-port shuttle buses and relaxing booking arrangements for boarding slots on coaches at the local checkpoint.
Earlier this week, Guangdong’s tourism authority said it had ordered travel agencies to suspend day trips to Hong Kong and Macau on weekends via the bridge, days after the province’s capital city Guangzhou said it had asked agents to avoid doing so.
Standing outside a Mannings store yesterday, Tung Chung resident Tony Chan Tung, 49, said there were fewer travellers.
“Previously at this time, it was difficult to walk past here. But now, it’s OK … at least I can buy things,” the mechanic said.
Another resident David Toong, 50, who has lived in the district for about 10 years, said there were signs of improvement, though he saw some tour groups in the morning.
A saleswoman working in Mannings, surnamed Leung, said she felt more comfortable at the shop this weekend compared with last month, when it was so crowded she decided to wear a face mask as she felt the air quality was bad.
“It was like going to the border clearance facility at Lo Wu previously,” she said.
Even the visitors were happier. A 55-year-old farmer from the mainland, who only gave her surname Chen, said it was her second time crossing the bridge to Tung Chung, and she could easily find a place to eat and shop this week.
To divert crowds, local officials also planned to introduce more shops, including temporary ones at the port facility at the bridge.
HKTVmall, an online shopping platform owned by outspoken entrepreneur Ricky Wong Wai-kay, has launched a 4,000 sq ft pop-up shop there, selling products such as milk formula, diapers, skincare items and medicine – all popular with mainlanders.
But many visitors bypassed the store because their schedules were tight.
Individual traveller Shi Yamin, 40, from Zhuhai, was one of the few who stopped by the shop. The housewife said she planned only to stay at the port facility for a while, before heading back as she wanted to experience the bridge.
Shi bought a can of milk powder and said the presence of a store at the checkpoint was convenient for customers like her who were seeking “some basic products”.
Local tour guide Liang Xiaodam who was leading a group on a two-day tour said: “When tourists buy things at the arrival hall, it is tiring for them to carry a lot of goods in and enjoy their itinerary.”
She added that having another shop on the upper floor of the building – for outbound travellers – would be a better idea.