Zhuhai Port sees 412.6 percent increase in foreign passengers

The Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the only port in the Chinese mainland with direct land access to Hong Kong International Airport, has seen a dramatic increase in foreign passenger traffic this year, according to border inspection authorities.

As of Tuesday, over 158,000 foreign passengers have entered and exited the mainland for business exchanges and tourism through the bridge since early 2024, a year-on-year increase of 412.6 percent compared with the same period of last year, data from the authorities showed.

The data showed that over 600 tourist groups were among the foreign passengers, marking a 300 percent increase compared to the previous period.

In addition to accelerated interactions between residents of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, exchanges between Chinese and foreign personnel have also become increasingly frequent since the implementation of measures by the National Immigration Administration to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals into China and the expansion of visa-free countries, the border inspection authorities said.

The inbound and outbound passenger flow through the mega sea-crossing bridge has grown rapidly since early this year. By Tuesday, the number of inbound and outbound passengers through the Zhuhai port of the bridge had already exceeded 10 million in less than five months, a year-on-year increase of over 127.7 percent.

The increased number of travelers from the two special administrative regions has become a major factor driving the rapid growth of passenger flow at the Zhuhai port of the bridge, the authorities said.

Since the implementation of policies allowing vehicles from Hong Kong and Macao to travel north through the bridge in 2023, an increasing number of residents from the SARs have chosen to travel, sightsee and engage in leisure activities by driving north to the mainland.

The number of travelers from Hong Kong and Macao passing through the port has reached 6.025 million since early this year, a year-on-year increase of 126.3 percent.

The number of single-plated vehicles from Hong Kong and Macao, referring to those only registered in the SARs, has exceeded 1.095 million trips since January, with a monthly growth rate of over 10 percent, according to the authorities.