The Chinese central government will relax travel curbs to allow more people on the Chinese mainland to visit Hong Kong, in a move expected to boost the city's economy, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government announced.

It was the central government's latest economic gift to the HKSAR.

Over the next several months, the central government will allow another 43 million Chinese mainland residents to visit Hong Kong, as individuals, without requiring them to join tour groups as before, Hong Kong's Economic Development Secretary Stephen Ip said lately.

All Chinese mainland tourists holidaying in Hong Kong were required to join tour groups until the middle of last year, when the central government started a scheme to waive the requirement for residents in some cities.

The scheme has since been expanded to other cities.

Ip said 310,000 residents from seven more cities in South China's Guangdong Province could visit Hong Kong as individuals beginning this month, and another 43 million people from nine cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces could visit on their own beginning in July.

After that, the scheme will cover 150 million mainlanders from 32 cities. It is expected to boost Hong Kong's retail and tourism industries.

The scheme now covers 16 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, but most are located in Guangdong, a province just north of Hong Kong.

(China Daily May 9, 2004)