MK sports 2023 shows a view of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in south China. Photo:Xinhua " src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-01-09/7677e9b3-96b3-43e2-8cf0-b5ee9025e0bf.jpeg" />

An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 15, 2023 shows a view of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in south China. Photo:Xinhua

China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is experiencing a surge in tourism as domestic and foreign tourists took advantage of the country's visa facilitation measures, according to media reports on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge handled 25,000 inbound and outbound vehicle trips, marking its highest single-day traffic since opening in 2018, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday, citing border inspection authorities.

From January 28 to Saturday, total vehicle crossings hit 95,000, up 35.6 percent year-on-year. More than 69,000 trips by vehicles carrying number plates from Hong Kong or Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) were recorded, marking a 40.4 percent year-on-year increase.

In Hong Kong, from January 28 to January 31, over 680,000 people visited the city, of which 564,000 came from the Chinese mainland, representing a 4 percent year-on-year rise, local news outlet hk01.com reported, citing an official with the Hong Kong Tourism Board. The city also witnessed a 16 percent rise in visitors from outside the Chinese mainland, according to the official.

In Macao, visitor arrivals reached 219,000 on January 31, an increase of 50,000 from the previous day, reflecting a surge in travel during the Spring Festival holiday period, the People's Daily reported on Saturday, citing data from Macao Special Administrative Region government. The city's hotel occupancy rate has exceeded 90 percent, according to the report.

Zhu Chen, a resident in Guangdong, told the Global Times on Sunday that he saw during the past days a large increase in the number of distinctive cars from Hong Kong and Macao, as the influx of visitors from the two SARs surged.

After a policy that grants permanent residents and residence permit holders in the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Guangdong Province with a multi-entry permit of unrestricted visits for up to seven days per stay within a one-year validity period to Macao, a total of 16,000 visits were made from January 1 to 31, the CCTV reported, citing local border inspection authorities.

Song Ding, a research fellow at the China Development Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday that favorable policies rolled out from the central government and regional government in the GBA since 2024 have driven a significant increase in the people-to-people exchanges among cities in the region during the Spring Festival holidays.

"As a result, we are seeing new breakthroughs for visitor throughput by key infrastructure in the region and a steady increase by mainland visitors to Hong Kong and Macao, Song said. "This trend also reflects residents' recovering confidence in the overall economy and an uptick in attitude toward consumption."

In Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, over 57,000 foreign arrivals and departures were recorded between January 28 and 10 am Saturday, representing a 38 percent increase year-on-year, CCTV reported. Of these, more than 12,000 visitors took advantage of the visa free policy, accounting for 40.4 percent of total foreign arrivals.

During the period, Shenzhen border inspection authorities reported over 2.85 million arrivals and departures, up 8.5 percent year-on-year.

China in December further relaxed its visa-free transit policy, expanding the visa-free transit duration for eligible foreign travelers from 72 or 144 hours to 240 hours, equal to 10 days. The new policy offers facilitation to foreign tourists traveling in China's major economic zones such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.