High-Speed Rail Brings Tourists to Hong Kong

High-speed rail has led to a high volume of mainland tourists

A record 17 million passengers have used the cross-border high-speed railway this year, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. 

The vast majority of the trips were between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, taken during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays. 

But many of these tourists don't stay overnight

Since March, mainland tourists have accounted for more than half the high-speed rail passengers, surpassing 2019 levels since July.

Fanny Yeung Shuk-fan, executive director of the Travel Industry Council said the high-speed rail had made cross-border travel much more convenient and efficient, but that meant fewer tourists staying overnight in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile the Hong Kong Tourism Board reports 23 million people visited the city for the first nine months of the year, though 11.4 million of them were same-day tourists, of which 85.4 percent were from the mainland.

So while shops and restaurants may be benefitting, hotels are not...