Shenzhen Port in South China's Guangdong Province handled 3.76 million journeys during the Spring Festival holiday that ended on Feb. 4.

The passenger flow for in- and out-bound tours showed a 5.5 percent rise on last year, according to sources from the Shenzhen General Center for Border Checkouts.

The flow reached its peak on Jan.31, the third day of the Year of the Dog, with 540,775 visits on that day alone.

During the seven-day holiday, tourists made 380,434 independent journeys via Shenzhen from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, up 19.3 percent year-on-year, while 41,820 people chose to travel to Hong Kong with the help of travel agencies, up 6.1 percent.

Shenzhen, one of the five special economic zones in China, is a boomtown facing Hong Kong across a river.

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2006)