The "2005 Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade" was held here Wednesday evening on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, to add festive atmosphere for the "Asia's World City."

A total of 12 floats along with 16 overseas and 13 local performing groups participated in the one and a half hour event that started at 20:00 local time (1200 GMT).

The night parade set off from the Tamar site in Admiralty in the central of the along roads and wound its way through roads along the Victoria Harbor and then back to the Tamar site.

More than 300,000 citizens and tourists to Hong Kong were expected to view the parade.

Donald Tsang, acting Hong Kong chief executive, believed that such a world-class spectacle would bring viewers a most enjoyable and memorable holiday.

Delivering a brief speech at the inauguration of the night parade, he said that "with many new attractions including the Hong Kong Disneyland coming on stream, I'm sure that Hong Kong will continue to be the most popular tourist destination among all Asian cities."

Tsang added that "we are ready to receive many more visitors in the coming year and share with them the unique experience of this Asia's World City."

It is estimated that a total of 660,000 tourists would visit to Hong Kong during the week-long Lunar New Year period starting from Wednesday.

The year 2005 is the 10th year that Hong Kong holds Lunar New Year Parade, and Hong Kong received a record of 21 million visitors last year.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2005)