A record 105,000 Halloween revelers flocked to Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district Saturday, with bars and restaurants reporting nearly twice their usual Saturday business, according to Lan Kwai Fong Group.
Chairman Allan Zeman said Sunday that attendance surpassed last year’s 80,000 and marked the district’s busiest Halloween. The celebrations capped the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s inaugural monthlong Halloween program.
“It was a record because last year we had 80,000 people and never expected to break the record,” Zeman said.
He credited the tourism campaign with drawing residents and visitors from mainland China and overseas, saying crowds grew over successive Saturdays before peaking on Halloween.
Hong Kong residents accounted for roughly 50% to 60% of the crowd, while mainland visitors made up about 20% to 30%, Zeman said. He also reported a stronger international turnout, with some visitors telling him they had traveled from Canada and the United States specifically to experience Lan Kwai Fong.
“In the past we never had so many international people,” he said.
Bars and restaurants reported business increases of 90% to 100% compared with a typical Saturday, while other businesses recorded gains of 40% to 50%, according to Zeman.
“It was just the best Halloween that Lan Kwai Fong has ever seen,” he said.
Zeman also credited round-the-clock operations at Huanggang Port and extended clearance hours at the Shenzhen Bay border crossing with helping visitors travel between Hong Kong and mainland China.
He called the border arrangements a “game changer for Hong Kong — not just for Halloween,” saying facial recognition technology could allow travelers to clear immigration in about two minutes.
