Travel booms in the GBA

Tourism in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is taking off with a vengeance, with the new Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link - a 24-kilometer cross-sea transport infrastructure that's a tourist attraction in itself - supercharging intercity travel.

Hong Kong residents are now heading to Zhongshan from Shenzhen for dining and sightseeing.

"About 200 Hong Kong travelers have joined our group tours to Zhongshan every day since the link entered service. Before its launch, there were hardly any," says Liu Deyi, manager for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao at Zhongshan Youth International Travel Service Co.

The surge in tourist numbers has boosted the agency's revenues. Liu said he expects the company's turnover to surge 10-fold in the first month of the link's opening. "Travelers from Hong Kong are interested in tasting Zhongshan's cuisine, and touring museums and markets. They like to spend one or two nights at four or five-star hotels," he says.

While Zhongshan's popularity among regional travelers is on the rise, the lust for travel is also growing among its residents.

Huang Huimei, director of the products division at Zhongshan Jucheng Holiday Travel Development Co, says the Zhongshan-based agency organized trips for about 400 of the city's residents to Shenzhen via the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link every day between July 1 and July 10, with the highest daily tourist number hitting 600.

"Before the link's opening, hardly any tour groups went to Shenzhen. But, in the first 10 days of this month, we had an average of eight tour buses leaving for Shenzhen daily - a 400-percent increase from a year ago," she says.

The travel boom has also fueled the travel business in other mainland cities in the GBA. According to Huang, her travel agency has launched more tourist itineraries covering Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou. "Travelers like to spend two days visiting several cities in the GBA, going from Zhongshan to Shenzhen via the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, touring around the metropolis and then spending another day in Dongguan or Huizhou," she says.

She says she expects the trend to continue in the coming months as Shenzhen and Zhongshan may offer more incentives to attract visitors.

The Zhongshan municipal government has taken various measures to boost tourism. The city's culture and tourism authorities have stepped up tourism promotion activities on major social media platforms, including Xiaohongshu, Weibo and Dazhongdianping, by cooperating with online celebrities.

More than 1.5 million yuan ($206,561) worth of coupons have been distributed by Zhongshan in partnership with e-commerce platform Meituan. The city has also teamed up with Shenzhen in offering discounts at tourist spots, and entertainment and cultural venues.

The tourism frenzy has also proved to be a boon for the catering industry. Data from Meituan show the number of searches related to Zhongshan food soared by more than 40 times in the first week of July, compared with a week earlier, before the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link entered service.