The usually peaceable Macanese residents are complaining about the hundreds of thousands of mainland tourists swamping the city, making it so crowded that residents are reduced to shuffling along on the streets and enduring long waits for transport.
About 2.7 million people, mostly mainlanders, crossed in and out of Macau by the end of the week-long holiday, or five times Macau’s population. On Sunday alone, 200,000 mainlanders crossed the border. Queues for the Hong Kong to Macau Turbojet ferry were hours long, and in Macau, ferry tickets sold at 11am were for boarding at 11pm.
Macau residents say that other than the long waits for buses, the ruthless pace of mainlanders also conflict with the local way of life. Meanwhile, activists in Mongkok urged mainlanders not to come to Hong Kong and to reduce the solo travellers scheme.
Source: SCMP
Photo: Karl Baron, Flickr
