【明報專訊】HUGE CROWDS OF VISITORS were stranded overnight at MTR stations or on the streets after the New Year's Eve countdown fireworks display in Victoria Harbour, as they were unable to return to Shenzhen due to transportation problems at border crossings.
After a hiatus of four years, the New Year's Eve countdown fireworks returned to Victoria Harbour this year, attracting nearly 500,000 people to watch it at the spot. They included many mainland tourists who came to Hong Kong specifically for the fireworks. According to government figures, there were 227,000 visitors entering Hong Kong on New Year's Eve, a daily record of inbound travellers last year. However, many mainland tourists arrived with gusto but left disappointed. It was not because the 12-minute fireworks display was lacklustre, but because they could not return home after the show ended.
While the MTR provided overnight services onto New Year's Day, neither the Lo Wu Port nor the Lok Ma Chau Control Point had extended service hours. The Huanggang Port was the only port that processed cross-border passengers around-the-clock as usual. After the fireworks display ended in the early hours of the morning, crowds of mainland tourists flocked to the overnight cross-border coach station, hoping to take the coach back to the mainland via Huanggang. To their shock, a mountain of people had already gathered there, most of them were unable to get hold of a ticket, and even some of those who had already purchased tickets were unable to get on the bus. Some passengers took the MTR to Sheung Shui or Fanling Station and tried to take a taxi or hire a car to Huanggang, but they were not successful either. Crowds of tourists were stranded near the
cross-border coach station or MTR stations all night. Adults moaned about their predicaments, which were particularly torturous for the young and old. Mainland social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo were full of criticism of the SAR government's poor arrangements.
Hong Kong's tourism industry is back in business after the pandemic. However, neither tourist numbers nor revenues have returned to previous levels. The number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong last year, for example, was only about 50% of that of 2018. Hong Kong's image as a city for tourists needs to be revitalised. No doubt the best way to do so is to organise more festivals and events that can attract visitors and revenue. Even if they don't work as expected, they can at least achieve certain publicity effects.
This New Year's Eve fireworks display can be said to be successful since it attracted hundreds of thousands of mainlanders to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the transportation bungle has led to a sea of criticism, greatly undermining the publicity effects. Yesterday (2 January) government officials and representatives from the Tourism Board, the MTR and KMB held a meeting with the transport industry to review the arrangements. According to the officials and people in the industry, it is obvious that the authorities had not seriously assessed mainland tourists' need to travel back to the mainland on the same day as their arrival, failing to make prior preparations to improve the flow of visitors in a timely manner.
Yesterday Chief Secretary for Administration Chan Kwok-ki said that the government will learn a lesson. When organising large-scale events in the future and expecting large crowds of visitors, the Chief Secretary for Administration will chair a high-level coordinating meeting in advance and actively discuss with the mainland the plan for speeding up the flow of visitors, including extending the service hours for processing cross-border passengers at railway ports and increasing the number of 24-hour cross-border ports. Furthermore, the government will also consider setting up road lanes specifically for express coaches to improve traffic arrangements. It is the government's responsibility to take remedial action. This incident has obviously caused damage to Hong Kong's image as a city for tourists. To demonstrate a responsible attitude, the government should apologise to the affected tourists for its improper arrangements.
明報社評2024.01.03：元旦內地客通宵滯留 政府安排不周應致歉
維港跨年倒數煙花匯演後，大批旅客欲返回深圳，卻因過關交通配套問題，無奈通宵滯留港鐵站或街頭。
跨年倒數煙花停辦4年，今年重臨維港，吸引近50萬人現場觀賞，當中不乏為煙花專程來港的內地旅客。根據政府數字，除夕當天有22.7萬入境旅客，創去年單日紀錄新高，然而不少內地旅客卻是「乘興而來，敗興而返」，原因並非12分鐘的煙花匯演不精彩，而是散場後「有家歸不得」。
雖然港鐵跨年通宵行駛，惟無論羅湖及落馬洲口岸均無延長服務時間，只有皇崗口岸一如平日可24小時通關。凌晨煙花匯演結束後，大批內地旅客湧到通宵跨境巴士站，欲乘車經皇崗返回內地，卻驚見現場人山人海，大部分人無法購票，也有已買車票的旅客無法擠上車；一些旅客乘港鐵前往上水或粉嶺站，欲截的士或約車往皇崗，同樣未能如願。大批旅客在跨境巴士站及港鐵站附近通宵滯留，大人叫苦，老幼更難捱。「小紅書」及微博等內地社交媒體一片罵聲，批評特區政府安排差。
疫後香港旅遊業復常，無論旅客人次和收益皆無復舊觀，以內地客為例，去年訪港人次僅及2018年五成許。香港旅遊形象有待重振，多搞節日盛事，旺丁旺財固然最好，就算旺丁未旺財，至少也可收宣傳造勢效果。
這次除夕煙花匯演，吸引了數以十萬計內地人來港，本來已算成功，可惜交通「甩轆」惹來海量負評，令宣傳效果大打折扣。政府官員昨天聯同旅發局、港鐵、九巴等代表，與運輸業界舉行會議，檢討安排。觀乎官員和業界人士的說法，當局事前顯然沒有認真評估內地旅客即日往返的需要，及早作好疏導人潮的準備。
政務司長陳國基昨天表示，政府「經一事，長一智」，未來舉辦大型活動，料有大批旅客入境時，政務司長事前將主持高層統籌會議，並跟內地積極商討疏導旅客方案，包括延長鐵路口岸通關時間、增加24小時通關口岸數目等，另外亦會考慮設立直通巴專用行車線，改善交通安排。亡羊補牢，政府有責。今次事件對香港旅遊形象明顯已造成傷害，政府應該就安排失當，向受影響旅客致歉，這才是負責任的態度。
■ Glossary 生字 /
with gusto : if you do something with gusto, you do it with a lot of eagerness and energy
get hold of something : to find something that you want or need
bungle : something that is done badly and that causes problems