Photo: CFP

The passenger flow at the Zhuhai Highway Port to HongKong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge reached 141,000 between Friday and Saturday, while traffic flow at the port reached 23,100 over the period, as the bridge ushers in travel peak during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.

Between 9 am to 4:30 pm on Saturday, the highway port welcomed "extremely high" traffic flow, it said. On Saturday, the inbound passer flow at the port hit nearly 50,000 and inbound vehicles over 7,000, which are 1.8 times and 1.45 times of outbound travel, respectively, according to the report. It said the number of inbound vehicles hit a daily record high since the bridge was open to traffic in October of 2018.

A Beijing resident named Li Yao told the Global Times on Sunday that she chose to travel to Hong Kong and Macao to celebrate her daughter's fourth birthday during the Golden Week. 

"The travel is convenient and environment comfortable. In addition to the art performance at the Ruins of St. Paul's in Macao, the fireworks show at the Victoria Park on Sunday is what we were looking forward to the most," she said.

Data showed that the number of travelers arriving and departing Macao reached nearly 400,000 as of Saturday night. In order to celebrate the grand holidays, Macao will hold more than 30 art performances to attract tourists.

Meanwhile, it's expected that a total of one million tourists from the Chinese mainland will visit Hong Kong during the eight-day holidays that lasts from September 29 to October 6, domestic media outlet Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported on Sunday. It said that about 720 group tours in the mainland will travel to Hong Kong.

In addition, a large number of travelers from Hong Kong and Macao are visiting the mainland during the holidays. According to data released by Hong Kong's Immigration Department, a total of 256,200 mainland travelers arrived in Hong Kong through major ports including Luohu and Shenzhen Bay on Friday and Saturday, with 551,900 Hong Kong residents entering the mainland via those ports. Since the re-opening of the border between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, the tourism sector in the two special administrative regions continues to see stable recovery this year.

Starting from May 15 of 2023, China resumed the nationwide program for group travel permits for Chinese mainland residents to Hong Kong and Macao.

Global Times