Residents of Tung Chung on Lantau have complained of being inundated by mainland visitors after the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge last month.
The new cross border bridge linking Hong Kong and mainland China has become a victim of its own success with mainland tourists flocking across the border and swamping Lantau island.
Residents of Tung Chung on Lantau have complained of being inundated by mainland visitors after the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge last month.
Hong Kong commerce minister Edward Yau Tang-wah said that the number of registered tour groups visiting Hong Kong via the bridge had jumped from about 70 in the first week, to more than 700 in the past week, the South China Morning Post reported.
In response, Guangzhou’s tourism authority last Thursday issued an “urgent notice” to travel agencies in the mainland Chinese city instructing them to avoid sending tour groups to Hong Kong via the new cross-border bridge during weekends.
The notice, issued by the Tourism Administration of Guangzhou Municipality, also pledged a crackdown on unauthorised agents.
The influx of visitors to Tung Chung saw long queues at bus stops and shops largely emptied of goods, triggering protests over the disruption to residents’ daily life, SCMP reported.
Some tour guides were also accused of flouting employment laws that prevent mainlanders from working in Hong Kong.