Having been described on the Chinese mainland as "golden week" for years, the just-concluded National Day holiday really brought "gold" to Hong Kong this year.

Never before have the tourism-related sectors in Hong Kong treated the golden week so seriously and never before have they shared such a big "cake" brought about by the National Day holiday (October 1-7).

With a full range of preparations by the tourism related sectors, Hong Kong welcomed more than 287,000 Chinese mainland visitors from September 28 to October 5, and of that number, 80,000 to 90,000 came as "individual tourists."

Analysts said that if each mainland tourist spent an average of 6,000 HK dollars (US$777) during their stay in Hong Kong, 1.7 billion HK dollars (US$220 million) could be expected to rush into Hong Kong during the golden week.

The mainland's tourism golden week has become a prime consuming week in Hong Kong, and purchasing in the so called "shopping paradise" has already become a major goal for many mainland tourists.

During the past few days, mainland tourists were spotted in every big shopping center and famous scenic spot in Hong Kong. Even the property market was given a boost after the "individual visit" was granted to a number of cities on the mainland, and horse racing betting witnessed record volumes with the participation of more mainland tourists.

All the tourism related sectors: Hotels, restaurants, transport, travel agencies and retail shops, benefited from the enthusiastic arrival of nearly 290,000 mainland tourists.

Considering the huge potential of the holiday economy after the opening of "individual visit" to more mainland residents, Hong Kong's tourism related sectors co-ordinated their efforts in preparing for mainland visitors in advance, ensuring that the visitors had a good time in Hong Kong.

To ensure the quick clearance of passengers at the cross boundary checkpoints, Hong Kong's Immigration Department drafted 266 staff members from other divisions to reinforce their work at the four land checkpoints. On October 1, acting director of the department Wong Tatpo also visited the Lo Wu, Hong Kong's biggest and busiest checkpoint, to observe the passenger flow.

To attract more visitors, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) launched an advertising campaign in the mainland media several months ago. Hotels, retail stores and big restaurants accelerated putonghua training of their staff over the past few months, and even broadcasts in metro stations and Shenzhen-Hong Kong trains added putonghua to the usual Cantonese and English.

To let visitors have smooth shopping and sight-seeing, a "tourism kit" prepared by HKTB was available for tourist arrivals in Hong Kong.

For the first time, six big banks, including the Standard Chartered and the Bank of China extended their business hours specially for mainland tourists. Apart from exchanging renminbi into HK dollars, the banks also provided such services as account opening, safety deposit boxes and registration of stock exchange accounts.

Hong Kong tourism sectors have shared the same view that the golden week is a rare "ready-made cake" for Hong Kong tourism development, and to maintain a sustainable tourism growth is essential for the sectors.

(China Daily October 9, 2003)