Hong Kong "Easter + Qingming" 5-day consecutive holidays, Hong Kong tourism industry: it is estimated that high-speed rail tour groups will increase by about 30%.

In 2026, the Easter holiday in Hong Kong (April 3-4) seamlessly connects with the Qingming Festival holiday (April 6-7) to form a 5-day long weekend, leading to a large number of citizens leaving the city to travel abroad through the airport. The Hong Kong tourism industry pointed out that there is an increase in inbound and outbound travelers during the long weekend, and the overall business of the tourism industry is stable, with the number of high-speed rail tour group registrations increasing by about 30% annually. Timothy Cheng, the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Promotion Association, stated that Easter travel groups generally sign up around Christmas last year or during the Lunar New Year this year, before being affected by the situation in the Middle East. Therefore, there has been no significant change in the overall outbound travel situation during the Easter holiday. However, if the situation in the Middle East remains unstable, causing global oil prices to remain high and significantly increase airlines' fuel surcharges, it may affect the willingness of citizens to travel abroad during the summer holidays. The Qingming Festival holiday in mainland China starts tomorrow, and Cheng expects a peak in inbound travelers, attracting mainland tourists from the Greater Bay Area, as well as neighboring provinces such as Guangxi, Hunan, and Fujian. Charles Chan, a director of the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Council, stated that this year's overlap of the Easter and Qingming Festival holidays has increased the demand for outbound travel by citizens, with a significant increase in registrations for high-speed rail tour groups by about 30% annually. He also mentioned that high-speed rail ticket prices are not affected by the increase in fuel surcharges, leading many to switch to short-distance tour groups in mainland China. It is expected that high-speed rail tours will become one of the preferred options for Hong Kong residents to travel abroad, and efforts will be made to organize more high-speed rail tour groups in the future. The Hong Kong Immigration Department expects that during the holiday period, approximately 6.44 million people will enter or leave Hong Kong through various control points, with around 5.43 million people entering or leaving through land control points. Today is expected to be the peak for outbound travel through land routes, with an estimated 712,000 people leaving the city; while the peak for inbound travel will be next Tuesday (April 7).