Travel agencies tout Huanggang Port tours, but security chief urges later visits

Some Hong Kong travel agencies are offering tours featuring “five-minute clearance” at the revamped Huanggang Port when it opens on Monday, but the security chief has urged those who do not need to use the crossing immediately to delay their visits.

Three days before the port’s official opening, the South China Morning Post on Friday found a number of tour packages advertised on social media that promoted the redeveloped border checkpoint as a new attraction on trips to mainland China.

An advertisement posted by Sino Step Travel Services on its Facebook page said, “Early access to the Huanggang Port for a brand new clearance experience!”.

“Since the government announced early Friday that the checkpoint would open at 6.30am on October 12, inquiries and bookings have risen markedly, with many residents eager to experience ‘five-minute clearance’,” marketing manager Cici Chung Ka-lam said.

She added that the checkpoint complex had “become a key selling point” of the agency’s tours.

Big Line Holiday began preparing tours through the new checkpoint in early September and started selling short-haul trips to Guangdong priced at about HK$1,000 to HK$2,000.

Sales director Kit Chan said the first tour sold out within two to three hours of going on sale. The agency now has 10 groups departing next Monday, each with about 40 people, most of them older travellers.

“We have trained all our call centre and frontline staff to stress the new Huanggang checkpoint as the biggest selling point, which has the ‘joint inspection’ system to make clearance much faster and more efficient,” he said.

“The two-border, two-check arrangement at the old Huanggang checkpoint was always a bit troublesome.” Chan said, adding that “many tour members told us that having to pull their luggage and transfer from buses was very inconvenient.”

Chan said the company would arrange more tours through Huanggang if the checkpoint operated smoothly and passenger numbers remained manageable.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Friday that authorities had allocated extra manpower and drawn up contingency plans to cope with unexpected surges in passenger numbers, anticipating strong interest in the revamped border crossing.

“We understand that during the initial opening, some tour groups may view Huanggang Port as a new attraction, lingering a little longer during border clearance to take extra photos, which we consider completely understandable,” he said.

“We have fully anticipated this situation. At the same time, we appeal to members of the public who are in no real rush to consider experiencing the facility at a later date.”

Tang also warned that travellers should proceed with border clearance as soon as possible after entering the building, as failing to do so could constitute a breach of the law.