Travel records hit new highs in Greater Bay Area

Driven by the Labor Day holiday travel frenzy, passenger and vehicular traffic records have been touching new highs at multiple transportation hubs in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen North Railway Station, the largest railway interchange in the city, set new passenger traffic records over two consecutive days. On Wednesday, it witnessed the movement of 1.17 million passengers, followed by 1.25 million on Thursday, the first day of the five-day break.

On Thursday afternoon, the station was teeming with thousands of passengers traveling to destinations around the country.

To facilitate the movement of travelers, the station has deployed intelligent cameras for congestion detection and passenger diversion, as well as robots offering free luggage-carrying services.

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, the Greater Bay Area's third mega bridge — which has cut travel time between the two cities to half an hour — also broke its traffic volume record on Thursday by catering to 181,600 vehicles.

Hengqin Port, connecting the Macao Special Administrative Region and Zhuhai in Guangdong province, recorded over 10,000 vehicle crossings on Wednesday, the highest single-day figure since its opening.

Vehicle crossings at the port have exceeded 1 million so far this year, representing a 43.2 percent year-on-year increase.

As of Sunday, passenger traffic through Zhuhai Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge had exceeded 10 million this year. This year, the port has witnessed passenger volume exceeding 100,000 on more than 30 days, double the number of days compared to the same period last year.

Benefiting from China's expanded visa-free policies and its proximity to the Hong Kong International Airport, the mega bridge also saw a 70 percent year-on-year rise in foreign passengers, with over 172,000 having passed through as of Sunday.

According to estimates from Trip.com, a leading online travel agency, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are expected to be the third and fourth most popular destinations for inbound tourism in China during the Labor Day holiday.

Before the holiday, some Chinese online travel agencies such as Tongcheng Travel and Fliggy integrated AI into their travel planning services, enabling tourists to rapidly formulate customized travel itineraries.

On Thursday, Hong Kong logged over 546,000 inbound passenger trips, with mainland visitors accounting for over 40 percent. This translated to 221,758 trips by Chinese mainland tourists, a 22.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

It also marks the highest single-day influx of mainland tourists since Hong Kong lifted COVID-19 restrictions in early 2023, surpassing the previous record set on Oct 1 last year.

The city's sole high-speed railway terminal — West Kowloon Station — emerged as the busiest entry point, processing nearly a quarter of the total inbound passenger trips.

Among the arrivals at West Kowloon Station was Cai Guilian, a 44-year-old from Guangzhou, who was checking transport options to her hotel near Hong Kong Disneyland Resort while her daughter rested on a suitcase.

"This time, we plan to spend two days in Hong Kong, and Disneyland is our only destination," she said.

Despite niche travel trends, first-time visitors still flocked to landmarks like the Golden Bauhinia Square, commemorating Hong Kong's 1997 return to the motherland, and the Avenue of Stars along Victoria Harbour.

There, Xiang Yuhang, a recent graduate working in Shenzhen, photographed his girlfriend pressing her hands into the handprint of actor Tony Leung Ka-fai.

"It's our first time in Hong Kong," said Xiang, who had explored Sham Shui Po's markets earlier, guided by tips from lifestyle app Xiaohongshu.