The first batch of individual travelers from Xi’an and Qingdao have arrived in Hong Kong after the two cities were officially included in the Individual Visit Scheme starting Wednesday.
Lawmaker Benson Luk Hon-man, also the standing member of the Qingdao Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said six independent travelers from Qingdao arrived in Hong Kong – including a newlywed couple and a food blogger.
Luk said those six applied for the individual travel permits this morning and got approved within an hour, prompting them to immediately grab air tickets to Hong Kong.
Luk added that the Tourism Board and the Hong Kong Qingdao Native Association had arranged a dozen representatives to welcome the travelers at the airport and present them with commemorative gifts.
He expects that the expansion of the individual travel scheme will result in a 30 to 50 percent increase in visitor numbers from…
