Passenger traffic at various control points during the National Day Golden Week holidays was smooth and orderly despite a substantial increase in the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland, an official said in Hong Kong Friday.  

A spokesman for the Immigration Department noted that from Sept.30 to Oct. 7, about 287,000 mainland visitors entered Hong Kong, an increase of 21 percent compared with the same period last year, adding that the majority of passengers were able to clear immigration within 30 minutes.

During the holiday period, the total passengers throughput at land-boundary checkpoints was about 2.77 million, up by 9.3 percent over 2.53 million recorded during the same period last year.

To cope with the large influx, the department redeployed 335 officers from other divisions to reinforce various control points. Moreover, it formed a 50-strong Emergency Response Team, which was ready to handle any emergencies that might arise at the control points, said the spokesman.

In addition to staff reinforcement, the Immigration Department took a series of measures to enhance the handling capacity of the checkpoints.

These included suspension of leave, compulsory overtime, flexible deployment of staff and the use of innovative technology such as the introduction of the "Expeditious Immigration Clearance System" to deal with the flood of passengers.

During the busiest hours, the number of departure counters was raised from 76 to 109, enabling 23,826 passengers being processed per hour, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2003)