Greenpeace urges Hong Kong to cap visitors after overtourism spikes during National Day
Greenpeace reported thousands of tourists and dozens of environmental incidents at Half Moon Bay and Long Ke Wan Beach during the National Day holiday, and called for visitor limits.
Greenpeace’s Hong Kong office documented a surge in visitors to ecotourism sites during the National Day Golden Week, recording 3,010 people at Half Moon Bay on Sharp Island and more than 100 instances of marine life capture. At Long Ke Wan Beach in Sai Kung, roughly 1,516 visitors were logged, alongside 89 recorded acts of environmental damage. The NGO criticized the government's ad-hoc staffing response as a short-term fix, noting that the Po Pin Chau viewing platform accommodated 64 people at a time, surpassing its official limit.
Greenpeace called on the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the Environment and Ecology Bureau to create a full ecotourism strategy that includes visitor caps, seasonal trail closures, and routine impact monitoring. It also recommended expanding the Sharp Island Marine Park boundary to cover the entire island’s waters to prevent displacement of tourists to other vulnerable spots.
Why it matters
Uncontrolled visitor numbers threaten Hong Kong’s natural sites and could damage its reputation as a sustainable travel destination.
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