Luohu checkpoint handles more people

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 ◆ Luohu checkpoint handles more people

Luohu Checkpoint in this major city in south China's Guangdong Province, on the border with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), handled over 88.85 million people entering and leaving China last year, ranking first among the country's 228 points of entry and exit.

Sources at the Shenzhen Border Inspection Station said the volume accounts for about a half of the national total.

According to the sources, the number of people passing Luohu Checkpoint has been growing by about 10 per cent each year over the past few years. As a result, the checkpoint has been open for half an hour longer since December 1, 2001.

From December 31 last year to January 3 this year, more than 11 million people passed through the checkpoint, up 7.4 per cent from the same period of last year.

Thanks to the increased convenience in customs clearance and transportation, a growing number of residents in the HKSAR have bought real estate in neighboring Shenzhen, and work or go to school in Hong Kong regularly.

The increasing number of Chinese mainlanders going to Hong Kong for shopping has invigorated the latter's economy in recent years. A survey shows that from January to September last year, each tourist from the Chinese mainland spent on average HK$4,877 in the SAR, while the average American tourist spent HK$5,310, and the average European tourist spent 4,732 Hong Kong dollars in the same period.

To attract more Chinese mainlanders to spend money in the SAR, the relevant Hong Kong authorities have abolished the quota system for the number of mainlanders visiting the SAR as part of tourist groups from January 1 this year. (xinhua)