(Original title: Lively like “Spring Festival Transport”! Hong Kong enters Shenzhen and queues up for customs clearance.)
News from the Financial Associated Press, January 8 (Reporter Wang Biwei)“I haven’t been back for three years, so many houses have been built.” At 9:30 in the morning, a transit passenger said to the reporter with emotion. Today, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Port, which has been silent for three years, finally resumed customs clearance. A reporter from the Financial Associated Press visited several ports of entry in Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the morning and learned that the enthusiasm of tourists entering Shenzhen from Hong Kong is currently high, and the queuing time for entering Shenzhen via Shenzhen Bay in the early morning exceeds 1.5 hours.
Since tourist visas and business visas have just been opened today, a staff member at Futian Port told reporters that the current flow of people at the port is mainly for Hong Kong to visit relatives and friends in the mainland. A reporter from the Financial Associated Press entered Hong Kong through the Futian Port and found that the duty-free shops and other shops in the port are currently closed. There are relatively few passengers entering Hong Kong through Shenzhen, and the customs clearance process is very convenient. After landing in Hong Kong, you can see the words “Go straight to the station lobby, go directly to Hong Kong!”, revealing Hong Kong’s welcome to mainland tourists.
Just following 9 o’clock in the morning, the Shenzhen Bay Port has begun to congest, and it seems to have returned to the busy three years ago. Taxi and online car-hailing cars ready to pick up passengers have long lined up outside the port.
(Photographed by a reporter from the Financial Association of taxis waiting in line at the Shenzhen Bay Port)
Passengers flocked outside the Shenzhen Bay arrival hall in Hong Kong. At 9:30 in the morning, a transit passenger told the reporter that the queuing time for the border crossing was over one and a half hours.
(Photographed by a constant stream of reporters from the Passenger Finance Association)
At the Futian Port, which has been silent for a long time, there are more moving events. Many people waited for the arrival of their relatives and friends at the exit with bouquets.
(A pair of sisters embracing outside the port, photographed by a reporter from the Financial Associated Press)
Futian Port also showed enthusiasm to long-lost Hong Kong tourists: two mascot rabbits patiently took photos with passengers at the gate, and a welcome board with the words “We are family” was set up at the port.
(Photographed by a reporter from the Puppet Finance Association at Futian Port)
(Photographed by a reporter from the Financial Associated Press at the welcome board of Futian Port)
A passenger who entered Shenzhen via Futian Port told reporters that there is also a queue at Futian Port, and the time is regarding 20 minutes. “It’s as convenient as it was three years ago,” the person exclaimed.
(Photographed by a reporter from the Financial Associated Press at the Lok Ma Chau Port in Hong Kong, that is, the Futian Port, who are queuing up to enter Shenzhen)
The warmth of the port is also reflected in the returning passengers.
“Welcome home,” the staff at Futian Port said to passengers who entered Hong Kong with Hong Kong ID cards.
However, the current number of tourists entering Hong Kong is relatively small. A staff member of the Futian Port told the reporter that the passenger flow at the port is mainly from Hong Kong entering the mainland, mainly for visiting relatives and friends. The person further stated that “there should be more from next week.”
A passenger who entered Hong Kong via Shenzhen Bay in the morning told a reporter from the Financial Associated Press that the whole process took regarding an hour, while it took regarding 10 minutes for a reporter from the Financial Associated Press to enter Hong Kong via the Futian Port.
(Photographed by a reporter from the Financial Association on the empty Guanguan Avenue)
After entering Hong Kong, the reporter found that Hong Kong has also made a lot of preparations for the arrival of mainland tourists.
(Photographed by a reporter from the Financial Associated Press at the slogan outside the Lok Ma Chau Port)
Whether it is the sign on the subway elevator that reads “Go straight to the station lobby and go directly to Hong Kong”, or the sign in the Lok Ma Chau MTR station that reads “Lok Ma Chau Station reopens to serve cross-border passengers”, all indicate that travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland is returning to normal.
(Editor: Cao Jingchen)
