HK Prepared For Golden Week Travel Surge: Eric Chan

Chief Secretary Eric Chan said on Friday that Hong Kong is ready for the golden week holiday and officials have made arrangements with mainland counterparts for the busy travel period.

Tourism representatives expect that the mainland's first week-long holiday since the border reopening in February will see some 600,000 people visiting the SAR from Saturday.

Chan told reporters in Beijing that the authorities will deploy extra staff at border checkpoints.

"For popular places for inbound tours, such as Kowloon City, we will have more patrols. We will also continue to develop multi-destination tourism with other Greater Bay Area cities," he added.

Chan also said that his three-day trip to the capital had been fruitful and that it will allow Hong Kong to better integrate into the country's development.

He said he met the head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Xia Baolong, on Friday morning and the director very much cares about the SAR.

Chan said Xia again recognised the work of the SAR government, and that he had pledged to Xia that the government will accurately and resolutely implement One Country, Two Systems.

The minister said he also met officials at various ministries and told them how Hong Kong is fighting for talent from all parts of the world.

He expressed confidence that the SAR government can beat its target of admitting more than 35,000 people to Hong Kong this year through different talent schemes, adding that 33,000 of some 60,000 applications received have already been approved.

There will also be labour import schemes to help certain industries facing shortages, such as care homes, construction and transport, he said.

Chan added that Hong Kong will host a summit for the country's Belt and Road initiative, which marks its 10th anniversary this year.