Crowds flock out of HK as Easter holidays begin
On the first day of the Easter holiday on Friday, more than 1.1 million travellers had arrived and left Hong Kong, of which nearly 800,000 were outbound.  The busiest checkpoints were the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau spur line, and the MTR corporation once again called on the public to consider using other points to cross the border.  At the express rail station in West Kowloon some travellers told reporters they were going to Guangzhou for the long weekend, while others joined guided tours to Jiangxi Province.  A group of 11 people with six children said they were heading to a zoo in Panyu, saying expenses there were relatively cheap. A travel agent told RTHK that many tourists taking the express rail were going to different parts of Guangdong for a short trip, and demand spiked in part because tour prices over Easter are cheaper. “Business for Easter is better than that for the Lunar New Year holiday. The Lunar New Year is a major festive period for China, so things are more expensive. So for the shorter Easter holiday, more people go on tours on better deals," the agent said. The MTR Corporation has added extra trains to Shenzhen during the holiday period. The railway company also said that services to Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau were very crowded, and called on travellers to use other checkpoints if they could. The Transport Department, meanwhile, said the bridge to Zhuhai and Macau was very busy, with a large number of passengers waiting for outbound buses at the border.  In a special announcement, it said the bus operator had added extra services and people were advised to plan their journeys ahead and be patient. Many were also flying out of the airport, with Japan, Malaysia and Thailand among the most popular destinations.  And in Fanling, queues formed for buses heading to the Heung Yuen Wai border checkpoint, with passengers filling the vehicles that departed early in the morning. A group of 21 people said they were going to beaches in Nan'Ao in Shenzhen, and they plan to spend more than ten thousand dollars there. "We just want to get away from Hong Kong for a bit. Things there are a bit cheaper too, and it's more spacious so our children can run around," one of the fathers told reporters.