Luohu business ready for full cross-border travel

The businesses at Luohu Commercial City are preparing for the full resumption of travel with Hong Kong starting today and expecting revival of the businesses after the three-year border lockdown.

Cross-border travel between the mainland and Hong Kong will fully resume with no COVID-19 restrictions, including no quota for arrivals on either side, from Monday.

A visitor at Liantang Checkpoint this morning. The cross-border travel between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao will fully resume starting today. Sun Yuchen

Earlier on Jan. 8, Shenzhen had reopened three land checkpoints — Futian, Shenzhen Bay and Wenjindu — and two sea checkpoints — Shekou and Shenzhen Airport Fuyong Terminal at its initial stage of mainland border reopening with Hong Kong.

The other three land crossings between Hong Kong and Shenzhen — Luohu, Huanggang and Liantang checkpoints will reopen starting today.

At Luohu Commercial City, various shops engaged in services targeting border-crossing passengers, had prepared for the border crossing’s full opening.

A woman surnamed Xie, who opened a shop for personalized business suit designs, suffered a lot during the lockdown since most of her clients were from Hong Kong. She hoped her business would pick up again after all the borders reopen.

A shop owner surnamed You, expected her optical shop’s business would be revived after the borders reopen. She had prepared different types of eyeglasses for her old and new customers.

The first floor at commercial city was packed with many local eateries. A chef surnamed Chen from a Chaoshan food eatery said that they have prepared fresh ingredients for their dishes, hired professional service people and replaced old utensils with new ones to serve arrivals coming to the shop after the borders reopen.

“In the pre-pandemic years, visitors to our shop had to queue and wait for the food service. We hoped the business can revive to half of the level in the early days of the border reopening,” Chen said.

The bus terminal near Luohu Checkpoint has also prepared for the border reopening by arranging tits timetable and adding more drivers. “The arrivals from Hong Kong mainly head to cities in Pearl River Delta area like Huizhou and Jiangmen from Luohu Bus Terminal. We also arranged enough buses for travelers from the mainland to Hong Kong,” a staffer of the bus terminal said.

Shenzhen Metro Group will resume the sales of single-trip tickets through ticketing machines at Liantang Checkpoint and Huanggang Checkpoint Metro stations in addition to other means of ticket sales at stations, in addition to other means of ticket sales in stations. Arrivals from Hong Kong can use the 深圳地铁 app, AlipayHK app and Alipay app to ride the Metro.

According to the city’s exit-entry port office, Huanggang Checkpoint will operate 24 hours a day, Luohu Checkpoint will run from 6:30 a.m. to midnight, while Liantang Checkpoint will operate between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The exit and entry halls have completed equipment test.