Allowing more mainland cities to issue individual travel endorsements will boost Hong Kong”s tourism sector and contribute to its continued growth and development, tourism and retail industry insiders said.
Residents of eight more cities on the Chinese mainland will be allowed to visit Hong Kong and Macao independently from May 27, according to the National Immigration Administration. They could previously only visit on group tours. Fifty-nine cities are now part of such schemes.
The new cities include Lhasa in the Xizang autonomous region, Lanzhou in Gansu province, Xining in Qinghai province, and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
From March 6, the administration allowed Xi’an in Shaanxi province and Qingdao in Shandong to issue individual travel endorsements for trips to Hong Kong and Macao.
News of the expansion of eligibility saw the share prices of tourism and gaming companies listed in Hong Kong rise on Monday.
Pang Yiu-kai, chairman of the…
