A record 3.44 million people will enter and leave Hong Kong over the four-day holiday weekend marking May Day, dpa quoted officials as saying Friday. The prediction came ahead of a long weekend that will see people in Hong Kong and China enjoy public holidays on Saturday until Tuesday for May Day, or Labour Day. Hong Kong's Immigration Department said an estimated 3.44 million people would use land, sea and air crossings in and out of Hong Kong from April 28 to May 1, the highest total ever and 9 per cent higher than the same holiday period last year. Of those, around 305,000 people a day will use the busiest border checkpoint, the Lo Wu land crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the department said in a statement. The busiest day for outbound travel is expected to be Saturday when an estimated 188,000 people will leave Hong Kong at Lo Wu. Around 164,000 are expected to cross in the opposite direction on Sunday. Visitor arrivals in Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, have soared since cross-border travel restrictions with mainland China were substantially eased from 2003 onward.
