Hong Kong night view Photo: Courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism Board

The tourism industry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is looking forward to building closer ties with the Chinese mainland based on positive moves on regional integration involving the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area sent from this year's two sessions, industry insiders said.

There are "plenty of new opportunities" for the Hong Kong tourism industry arising from the detailed measures in the 2019 Government Work Report, such as policies to boost consumption, promote the Belt and Road Initiative and develop the Greater Bay Area, Zoe Lo, the senior manager of north and northeastern China of the Hong Kong Tourism Board told the Global Times on Wednesday. The Greater Bay Area is comprised of nine cities in South China's Guangdong Province as well as the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

In the second half of 2018, the opening of two major projects within the Greater Bay Area - the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge - not only boosted regional infrastructure connectivity and personnel exchanges but also speeded up the regional tourism development in the Pearl River Delta, according to Lo. 

In 2018, travelers from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong jumped 14.8 percent year-on-year to hit 50 million arrivals, a new high. 

Lo noted that the Hong Kong Tourism Board does not solely pursue a simple increase in tourist arrivals.

"We are also looking ways to cooperate with relevant partners in the Chinese mainland and leverage Hong Kong's advantages in the tourism industry to promote coordinated development within the framework of the Greater Bay Area."

In February, the Chinese government unveiled a development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to turn the region into a showcase for cooperation between the Chinese mainland, Macao and Hong Kong.