Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year parade is back after 5-year hiatus, with record-breaking 16 overseas dance groups to join event
- Tourism Board says procession on February 10, first day of Year of the Dragon, will take familiar route from Cultural Centre to Sheraton Hong Kong
- ‘The night parade this year will recreate the classic float carnival with the largest number of international performing groups ever,’ board adds
The Hong Kong Tourism Board on Thursday said the event would be held on February 10, the first day of the Year of the Dragon, and was expected to attract about 150,000 spectators. Tourists were expected to account for at least 30 per cent of them, it said.
“As a signature Chinese New Year celebration in Hong Kong, the night parade this year will recreate the classic float carnival with the largest number of international performing groups ever,” board chairman Pang Yiu-kai said.
“We have brought together some of the world’s hottest performers to the party to spice up the celebration and transform this traditional festival into an international mega event.”
The parade, a fixture of the Lunar New Year holiday, was last held in 2019. It was cancelled in the years after that because of anti-government protests and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The board said the event would feature 16 international performance groups and 13 local ones. Acts taking part will include Japanese female pop dance group Avantgardey, Spain’s the Light Dancers and German troupe the Universe of Lights.
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The parade will follow the same route in Tsim Sha Tsui as in the past, starting from the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and going along Canton Road, Haiphong Road and Nathan Road, before ending at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers.
The board said it was confident the event would attract residents and tourists, despite a drop in visitors and more Hongkongers heading elsewhere over the recent holiday period.
Official figures show Hongkongers made more than 1.05 million outgoing trips from December 24 to 26, compared with 1.08 million over the same period in 2018.
But local immigration authorities only processed 360,000 inbound trips over the three days, down 18 per cent from the 428,000 recorded over the 2018 festive break.
Raymond Chan Chan-man, a general manager with the board, expressed confidence that the parade would attract revellers, given its long hiatus.
“Since we have actually not organised this event for five years, so actually a lot of locals, as well as tourists, have been expecting this event,” he said.
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“And in fact, for the whole Chinese New Year promotion, besides the parade on the first day of the [festive season], we also have a series of events around Chinese New Year to make our tourists stay longer.”
The event line-up would include displays of the parade floats, which would be open to viewers for two weeks after the event, Chan added.
He said the board would hold a meeting with various government departments to ensure efficient crowd control arrangements, after thousands of mainland Chinese tourists earlier struggled to get back across the border after watching the New Year’s Eve countdown in Hong Kong.
