The Chinese mainland has limited the number of visits Shenzhen residents can make to neighboring Hong Kong to just one entry-exit trip per week, as of Monday.
中国大陆从本周一起限制深圳居民进出香港的频率为每周一次。
People living in Shenzhen can go to Hong Kong at most once a week with an entry visa, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Entry and Exit Administration.
The administration explained that Hong Kong only opened up to individual Mainland tourists in 2003 as part of a bid to revive its economy. As the number of visitors through the unlimited entry permits have surged over the past decade, the central government decided to limit the flow.
Since 2009, Shenzhen residents could visit Hong Kong as often as they liked with a multiple entry permit.
The Hong Kong-based newspaper, South China Morning Post, said the new policy could reduce the number of annual tourists by 4.6 million.
Last year, about 47 million mainland visitors streamed into Hong Kong, dwarfing the city's population of seven million.
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