內地遊客還將增多 港人擔憂隨之加劇

Hong Kong is getting ready to roll out the doormat for more mainland Chinese tourists-much to the chagrin of many residents.

香港正準備迎接更多來自中國內地的遊客，儘管許多當地人可能會非常不樂意。

Starting Sept. 1, an additional four million visitors from the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen will be allowed to more easily obtain multiple-entry visas to visit Hong Kong, an arrangement that's helped to stoke fears that the city will be overrun by mainland Chinese tourists, whom some locals have begun resentfully dubbing 'locusts.' Analysts estimate that the Sept. 1 arrangement will boost the number of visitor arrivals from mainland China by as much as 15%.

從9月1日開始，與香港相鄰的中國內地城市深圳將再有400萬人獲得一簽多行赴港旅遊的便利，這個新規定加劇了對內地遊客會讓香港不堪重負的擔憂，一些當地人已經開始不客氣地把內地遊客稱作“蝗蟲”。據分析人士估計，9月1號實施新的規定後，到香港旅遊的內地遊客將增加15%。

Last year, 28 million mainland Chinese visitors came to Hong Kong, a city of just 7 million residents. Such tourists come to shop for luxury goods, buy property and even give birth, embittering locals who feel they are being priced and crowded out of their own homes and subways.

去年共有2,800萬內地遊客到港旅遊，而香港的全部人口只有700萬。這些遊客來香港不但是爲了購買奢侈品、房產，有的甚至是爲了產子，這令當地人相當不滿，他們感到自己已經被明碼標價，被擠出了香港的房屋和地鐵。

'Hong Kong has become very crowded, very stuffy. We're losing our living space,' said Roy Tam, president of environmental group Green Sense. Mr. Tam said he marched to the city's immigration department Tuesday with a few dozen others to protest the scheme's expansion. In the city's main shopping districts, he said, there are 'no longer stores for Hong Kong people,' only jewelry and luxury stores catering to Chinese shoppers.

環保組織環保觸覺(Green Sense)的主席譚凱邦說，香港已經變得擁擠不堪，而且空氣污濁；我們正在失去我們的生存空間。譚凱邦說，他週二與幾十個人到香港入境事務處示威，抗議擴大自由行計劃。他說，在香港主要的商業區，已經沒有爲香港人開設的商店了，只有迎合中國內地購物者需要的珠寶和奢侈品店。

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has tried to soothe fears about the plan, saying that the government will ensure adequate facilities to support the growth in tourism. Mr. Leung also said Tuesday that the government would control the number of people allowed to enter Hong Kong's borders, though his office declined to elaborate on his comments.

香港特別行政區行政長官樑振英曾試圖平息人們對此項安排的擔憂。他說，政府將確保有足夠的設施支持旅遊業的發展。樑振英週二還表示，政府將控制入境人數，不過特首辦公室拒絕對樑振英的評論做進一步解釋。

Last year, visitors to Hong Kong spent a combined $263 billion. Mainland tourists, who make up two-thirds of all visitors toHong Kong, are an economic lifeline for the city, where the tourism sector employs 6% of all residents.

去年，到香港旅遊的遊客共消費2,630億美元。到香港旅遊的旅遊者中，內地遊客的比例達到了三分之二。內地遊客是香港經濟的生命線，旅遊業爲香港6%的市民提供了就業崗位。

Still, relations between locals and mainland tourists occasionally turn frosty, and many of the latter say they have lately noticed a palpable chill in their reception.

儘管如此，香港人和內地遊客的關係仍然不時地變得緊張，許多內地遊客說，他們最近注意到香港人對他們的態度明顯變得冷淡。

'Shopping in Hong Kong already isn't cheap, Hong Kong's shopping vendors already aren't that honest, and Hong Kongpeople already aren't that friendly. Mainland tourists, where's your next stop?' one user Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service wrote this week.

新浪微博的一名網友本週寫道：香港購物已經不那麼便宜了，香港商販已經不那麼真誠了，香港民衆已經不那麼友好了，大陸游客，下一站會是哪裏？

Beijing first began permitting mainland Chinese to travel individually to Hong Kong in 2003, after the city's economy was devastated by SARS. (Previously, tourists from mainland China had been allowed to travel to Hong Kong only in groups.) Since 2008, the number of annual mainland visitors to Hong Kong has jumped by 66%. The so-called 'individual visit scheme' has gradually been expanded to include residents in dozens of mainland cities: Today, 270 million people in mainland China are eligible under the plan to make their own independent visits to Hong Kong. (While would-be sightseers hailing from cities not covered by the plan can apply to visit Hong Kong as individual tourists, they face greater hurdles in getting approval, and the majority travel in groups.)

北京在2003年香港經濟因非典(SARS)疫情受到重創後首次允許中國內地遊客以個人身份去香港旅遊。（在這之前，內地的遊客只可以隨旅行團赴港旅遊。）2008年以來，每年到香港旅遊的內地遊客的數量猛增了66%。所謂的內地赴港個人遊逐漸擴大到數十個內地城市的居民。如今，內地2.7億人有資格以個人名義獨立到香港旅遊。（儘管沒有被計劃覆蓋的城市的旅行者也可以申請去香港個人遊，但他們在獲得審批的過程中會遇到重重阻礙，大多數人還是選擇了跟團赴港旅遊。）

The last time the scheme was expanded was in 2009, the city's immigration department said, when permanent Shenzhen residents were allowed to obtain year-long, multiple-entry visas toHong Kong. A spokesman forHong Kong's commerce and economic development bureau said that the government remains in 'constant, close communication' with mainland authorities regarding border crossings and would enhance staffing as needed to help minimize long immigration queues.

香港入境事務處說，上一次擴大內地遊客自由行計劃是2009年，當時深圳的本地戶籍居民獲准得到一年內多次往返香港的簽證。香港商務及經濟發展局一位發言人說，香港政府依然在就擴大香港與內地間人員往來的問題與內地有關部門進行着持續而密切的溝通，爲儘量縮短入境檢查站的排隊長龍，香港方面會在必要時增加邊檢人手。

Already, visiting Hong Kong is so convenient-an easy subway ride-that residents of Shenzhen make regular trips to the city to buy their soy sauce and other daily goods. Though Shenzhen's permanent residents can easily apply for multiple-entry visas to Hong Kong, this week's expansion will grant Shenzhen's students and migrants-that is, those who aren't permanent city residents-the same privilege.

由於深圳居民來香港目前已經非常便利（搭乘地鐵就能來），許多深圳市民會定期前往香港購買醬油等日常用品。深圳常住戶籍居民已能容易地申請到一年多次往返香港的簽證，而自由行計劃本週擴大實施後，外地來深圳上學的人以及深圳的非本地戶籍居民也將有資格獲得一年多次往返香港的簽證。

Mr. Tam says that unless the government caps the number of mainland visitors allowed inHong Kong, 'different expectations on hygienic conditions and politeness' will continue to provoke tension between residents and their mainland counterparts.

譚凱邦說，除非港府爲內地來港遊客數量設置上限，否則內地人與香港人在衛生習慣和禮貌程度方面的差距將繼續在這兩類人羣之間製造緊張。

'We want the government to reduce the number of mainland tourists,' he says. 'Less tourists should mean less cultural conflict.'

他說，我們希望政府減少內地來港遊客數量，遊客減少意味着文化衝突也會減少。