GUANGZHOU - More than 7.5 million inbound and outbound passenger trips were recorded through the Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 23 percent year-on-year and a record high, official data showed on Monday.

The bridge handled more than 1.56 million inbound and outbound vehicle trips in the first three months, marking an increase of 31 percent year-on-year.

The 55-kilometer bridge links the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao SAR and the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province. It is the world's longest bridge-and-tunnel sea crossing.

The rapidly growing influx of visitors from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs to the Chinese mainland has become a major factor driving the increase in port traffic.

More than 880,000 trips by vehicles carrying plates from the two SARs were recorded at the port in Q1, up by 34 percent, and 4.1 million passenger trips were made by residents of the SARs via the port during the same period, accounting for 54.6 percent of the total flow of passengers.

Notably, over 120,000 trips made by foreign visitors were recorded at the port in Q1, up by 22 percent year-on-year and a record high. Among them, more than 20,000 inbound trips were made visa-free, a surge of 122 percent year-on-year.

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Since November 2023, China has continuously adjusted and optimized its visa-free transit policy to boost openness and people-to-people exchanges. Last year, over 20.1 million foreign visitors entered China under the visa exemption policy, marking a year-on-year increase of 113.5 percent in eligible transit visa-exemption travelers.