More than half of registered visitors to Sai Kung trail fail to turn up on 1st weekend of booking system

More than half of the registered visitors to a hiking hotspot in Sai Kung failed to turn up on the first weekend of a trial booking system intended to curb overtourism and blunt ecological damage, authorities have said. Of the 3,230 people who make bookings under the real-name reservation system, only 1,560 registered and walk-in patrons arrived at the Po Pin Chau section of the High Island Geo Trail over the weekend. Visitors show their booking record to AFCD staff before entering the Po Pin Chau section in the first weekend of September, 2026. Photo: AFCD. Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) unveiled the reservation system last month in a bid to address overcrowding and improve visitor safety. The AFCD said on Facebook that around 900 of the 1,800 people signed up on Saturday turned up at the trailhead in Sai Kung East Country Park. On Sunday, some 660 of 1,430 registered visitors arrived. An unspecified number of these were walk-ins who registered on-site. Despite the high no-show rate, the department said the operations went smoothly over the weekend. “Visitors entered the trail after having their QR codes scanned and identities verified, with immediate entry available during most time slots without queueing,” the AFCD’s post read in Chinese. Po Pin Chau. Photo: AFCD. Visitors were satisfied, according to country park authorities, with some pointing out that foot traffic along the trail had decreased compared to before the trial booking system’s introduction. Fatal accident The trail, which leads to a cliff overlooking the island of Po Pin Chau, has become a popular tourism attraction in recent years, particularly among visitors from the Chinese mainland. On New Year’s Eve last year, a 21-year-old tourist from Guangzhou died after falling 70 metres from the cliff into the sea. The man and his friends had been taking photos at the site, which is famous for its vertical columns of volcanic rock, when the accident occurred. Under the trial booking system, visitors must book in advance for all weekends and public holidays beginning in September and ending on October 7 – the final day of mainland China’s National Day Golden Week holiday, a peak travel season for visitors from across the border. The maximum number of daily visitors during this periods has been capped at 2,000. Po Pin Chau. Photo: AFCD. Registration is not required for visits before 9am and after 5pm. The AFCD said on Monday that it will collect on-site data and visitors’ opinions and review the trial system at a later date. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing. More by Irene Chan