Travel industry experts warn there won't be enough tourists from other sources to make up for the loss from declining mainland tourist arrivals if some Hong Kong people's senseless and hostile attitude toward mainland visitors continues. (Photo: Edmond Tang/China Daily)
Unlimited visits to Hong Kong by residents of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province, have been restricted to one visit a week per person, Xinhua reported on Monday quoting a source from the Ministry of Public Security's Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration.
The new policy was enacted on Monday. Shenzhen authorities have ceased issuing the permits that allow Shenzhen residents multiple entries to Hong Kong. New permit holders can only enter Hong Kong once a week with a maximum stay of seven days.
The trial of unlimited visits in Shenzhen was carried out in 2009 upon the request of the Hong Kong SAR government.
The mainland tourists' visits have boosted Hong Kong's economy, created more local jobs and enhanced people-to-people exchange between the two cities, but, at the same time, also created problems, such as increasing pressure on the port and raising the number of tourists to such a degree that it has exceeded Hong Kong's capacity, said an official of the administration.
The curb is the central government's effort to adjust to the new situation, he said.
Before the travel policy change, more than 2.2 million Shenzhen permanent residents enjoyed unlimited visits to their neighboring city, which only costs 100 yuan ($16) entry fee.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Monday that the policy revision comes after proposals from Hong Kong to combat smugglers who buy goods in huge quantity from Hong Kong and sell for a profit in the mainland.
He also said that the new travel policy is not contradictory to Hong Kong's willingness to develop its tourism industry. A series of measures will be carried out in a short term to attract more tourists from around the world to Hong Kong, he said.
China introduced Individual Visit Scheme in 2003 to lure more mainland tourists to Hong Kong after SARS outbreak. In the following decade, the scheme boosted the industrial development of Hong Kong's tourism, retail, catering, hotel, etc, and created mass jobs for local citizens.
According to statistics from Hong Kong, the number of mainland tourists' trips with the multiple entry permits increased from 4.16 million in 2010 to 14.85 million in 2014, almost quadrupling the figure.
However, complaints have been heard from Hong Kong in recent years, as the mainland tourists favored purchasing smartphones, cosmetics, medicines and luxury goods in the city. Some of the discontent even leads to chaos in some cases.
The latest data shows an 8.7 percent decline in the number of tourists who visited Hong Kong in March compared with last year, among which, those from the mainland dropped by over 10 percent.
