China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is celebrating the seven-day National Day holiday starting from Tuesday by offering various incentives and discounts for residents and visitors, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Public tram rides and ferries are free to all passenger during the holidays, while underground rail passengers enjoy a 25 percent fare discount for every ride, including cross-boundary trips.
Public leisure facilities, including swimming pools and basketball courts, along with government-operated museums, are also open to the public free of charge.
Cinemas are enticing moviegoers with half-priced tickets, and at least 10,000 stalls and street vendors are providing a 25-percent discount on their goods.
Around 3,000 restaurants and shops are also offering special deals on selected items.
Canton Road remains one of the most popular shopping destinations for mainland visitors, with one shopper expressing delight at the diversity of big-name brands and styles available.
“There are many big brands, with many different styles and options. I feel great when I’m shopping,” said a tourist from the mainland.
Another tourist extended warm birthday wishes to the PRC, expressing her joy at the warm and hospitable welcome.
“It’s a bit hot here in Hong Kong, but overall, whether it’s the working staff or the local people, they’re all very warm and friendly to us,” she said.
The metropolis is expected to see around 1.2 million tourist visits from the mainland during the seven-day holiday, up 20 percent from the previous year.
“One of the rather appealing offers is that Hong Kong Tourism Board they have a lot of promotions and then publicity in mainland talking about this National Day, what’s happening in Hong Kong. So I think one of the offers is very, I like it very much, attractive to mainland tourist – that is they work with Go Duck, which is an app that they can call for the local transportation service, and then with a 20-percent discount. So I think this is exactly the mode of travel of our mainland visitors, and I think that that helps a lot,” said Fanny Yeung, executive director of the Hong Kong Travel Industry Council.
Another big attraction of the holiday was a firework display over Victoria Harbor on Tuesday night.
The show, which lasted around 23 minutes and featured eight scenes, was themed “splendid fireworks shining over a prosperous China,” with a total of 31,888 fireworks illuminating the night sky.
Hong Kong celebrates National Day with alluring promotions and offers
Video filmed by China Media Group (CMG) on Wednesday showed widespread damage and chaotic scenes on the streets in the southern suburbs of Beirut after recent Israeli airstrikes.
Israel has been focusing its attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs, targeting what it claims are Hezbollah bases in the area.
The footage showed destroyed buildings, rubble-strewn streets and rescue workers digging frantically through rubble looking for survivors.
On September 27, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and several important members of the group were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah’s command headquarters in Dahieh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israeli ground troops crossed the Lebanese border on Wednesday, advancing towards the villages of Adaisseh and Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told media.
Footage reveals horrific scenes from Beirut after Israeli airstrikes
