Four million more migrant workers in Shenzhen can travel to Hong Kong under an expanded arrangement for Guangdong residents.
From December 15, Shenzhen will start accepting applications by migrants under the individual visit scheme, Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang Ying-yen said yesterday.
The arrangement was reached in a meeting between the cities co-chaired by Tang in Shenzhen.
"The new policy will bring convenience to more migrant workers in Shenzhen, who are not registered permanent residents in Guangdong," he said.
"Instead of returning to their own provinces to apply for travel visas to Hong Kong, eligible applicants will be able to do it directly in Shenzhen."
After the relaxation, the scheme will cover most residents of Shenzhen, Tang added.
New eligible applicants include businessmen and workers of state-owned, private or foreign companies who have resided in Shenzhen for more than a year.
Shenzhen mayor Xu Qin said that under the current scheme, six million travelers from different mainland cities visit Hong Kong via Shenzhen throughout the year.
He hopes the talks will help further strengthen trade cooperation and the tourism industry.
A manager of the Hong Kong-Macau division of China Comfort Travel, based in Shenzhen, said she received about 10 inquiries from Shenzhen non- permanent residents yesterday on application procedures for visas to visit Hong Kong individually.
Eric Lau Man-ho, senior promotions manager of Sun Hung Kai Estate Agency, said its mall Landmark North in Sheung Shui, which is five minutes from the Lo Wu control point, is expected to see a 5 to 10 percent increase in shoppers in the coming month because of the new policy.
"It would further boost our business as now 90 percent of mainland visitors to the mall are from Shenzhen," he said.
"They spend HK$1,000 to HK$10,000 in the shops during every visit."
The individual visit scheme, launched in 2003, has been extended to all cities in Guangdong and other major cities in the mainland.
The Hong Kong delegation and Shenzhen municipal leaders also visited Qianhai, an area which will be developed as a Hong Kong-Guangdong business cooperation zone.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board said 29 million visitors arrived in the SAR in the first 10 months of the year. More than half were from the mainland.
Natalie Wong
