25th October 2026 – (Washington) Hong Kong’s Halloween build‑up intensified as the Tourism Board’s first “Hong Kong Halloween Month” packed Central, with Lan Kwai Fong hosting a second consecutive Saturday of costume celebrations that left its main thoroughfare gridlocked. Police introduced road closures to manage dense footfall and redirected queues around the district, with many partygoers taking lengthy detours and waiting roughly one to two hours to enter the area.
Visitors said the turnout surpassed expectations and rivalled the atmosphere typically seen on Halloween night. Some opted to arrive earlier in the evening to avoid peak congestion, while others brought families to sample activities across the city before converging on Central later. Attendees also cited exam schedules and crowd concerns as reasons for joining the festivities a week in advance rather than on the day itself.
The campaign, which began last Saturday, features street events on three consecutive weekends across Central, Kai Tak, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui East, culminating on Halloween. In Central, crowds spilled along Chater Road towards Statue Square, where large‑scale installations and themed entertainment anchored the programme and fuelled a steady flow of photo‑taking and street‑level performances.
Local businesses reported a clear uplift. Staff at eateries near Lan Kwai Fong said footfall started climbing from about 6.00pm and outpaced the same period last year, with some operators estimating takings could be higher by as much as twenty per cent on the busiest nights. One restaurant worker expected an additional HK$10,000 to HK$20,000 in revenue for the evening, while other proprietors noted that multiple weekends of programming had kept trade brisk.