China unveils new measures to facilitate opening-up, international exchanges(3)

Strengthened link-up

In February, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) celebrated its 5th anniversary. While the GBA plan has largely fueled ripe collaborations within the region, the new arrangements are set to ride on the momentum, further unfolding soaring demands across tourism, retail, hotels and dining sectors and leading more Chinese mainland cities to engage in deeper exchanges with the two SARs, according to observers.

Specifically, the initiatives focus particularly on simplifying travel for business professionals and talent from the mainland are expected to generate more business opportunities in Hong Kong and Macao, as well as enhancing the local talent pool and promoting cross-regional knowledge exchange, said Liang.

He added that Chinese mainland-based skilled workers may also bring new momentum into innovation and development of Hong Kong and Macao.

Meanwhile, those measures pertaining to encourage people-to-people exchange is also a boon to the tourism market, with Hong Kong local businesses' expectation running high for the upcoming May Day holidays.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday that ahead of the May Day holidays, it will distribute 16,000 consumption coupons for free to tourists from Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province. It is the first time that the Hong Kong tourism authority will give coupons to mainland cities, amid broad efforts to attract mainland travelers.

In March, two Chinese cities - Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province - were added to the individual visit scheme (IVS), bringing the number of designated mainland cities to 51.

It is expected that 1.76 million trips will be made in and out of the Chinese border ports each day during the May Day holidays, up 40.5 percent compared with that of 2023, according to NIA. And as the streak of HK and Macao residents travelling northward and mainland residents heading southward continues, the traffic at ports which border Hong Kong and Macao SARs is estimated to increase significantly, NIA said.

The immigration authority estimated that the land port of Luohu in Shenzhen will see traffic of around 194,000 trips during the holidays, while 110,000 trips will also be made through the Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.