Passengers purchase tickets at the ticket office of Hong Kong West Kowloon High Speed Rail Station. Photo by Liang Zuyi
Since the Opening of the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, more and more Hong Kong and Macao residents have been fanned by the "Bridge Rail Tour". Whether it is the Qingming Festival to return to the hometown to worship ancestors, spring walking or holiday tourism, high-speed rail and bridges have become the new first choice for Hong Kong and Macao citizens to travel, "convenient, fast and comfortable", many people said that they have repeatedly experienced, "fall in love with this feeling".
Take the high-speed train to the mainland
Just this past Easter, many Hong Kong citizens chose to "take the high-speed rail to the mainland to see". According to Hong Kong media reports, about 350,000 people enter and leave Hong Kong from the port of West Kowloon Station of the high-speed rail during the four-day holiday. On the evening of the day before the holiday began, the Hong Kong High Speed Rail West Kowloon Station was already crowded, passengers lined up to enter the gate, there were many people waiting in the lobby to pick up tickets, and the waiting hall was also full of passengers, most of whom were Hong Kong citizens who were going to the mainland to play.
Mr. Guo and his friends and a group of 8 people went to Guilin, Guangxi province to play, and it was not surprising to see the scene of the popularity in the station. "It's easy and fast to take the train to the mainland, go out and play at Easter, and expect such a crowd." Mr. and Mrs. He participated in the 5-day group in Zhangjiajie, Hunan, and this time they planned to visit Mao Zedong's former residence. On Mother's Day in May, they will take the high-speed train to Guangzhou with friends and play a trip to Qingyuan Glass Bridge.
Yang Shixin, assistant general manager of the Free Travel Business Center of China Travel Service in Hong Kong, said that the high-speed rail tour group was very popular during Easter, and the 150 high-speed rail groups launched by the company were sold 90% as early as a week before the start of the holiday, and some of the group lines even needed to increase the number of places at the request of passengers. "Hong Kong citizens have reacted enthusiastically to traveling to the mainland by high-speed rail, and many people have repeatedly experienced it. Among the routes launched during this holiday, the products to Xiamen, Guilin, Wuhan, Chaoshan and other places via Hong Kong West Kowloon Station are very popular, and many passengers choose to take the high-speed rail from Hong Kong to Shenzhen North Railway Station or Guangzhou South Railway Station, and then go to the place of travel by themselves. ”
Look at the bridge on the ocean
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is also crowded, with about 400,000 people entering and leaving Hong Kong through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge port in the four days of Easter. On the first day of the holiday, full buses lined up to drop off passengers outside hong Kong's ports, and there were long queues at counters for transit procedures. Mrs. Tam and her daughter, a Hong Kong citizen, crossed the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge for the first time and "felt magnificent". They plan to go to Zhuhai and then to Macau, which is also the route chosen by many other travelers.
Chen Zongyi, managing director of Guanzhong "China-Hong Kong Connect", which operates the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge through buses, said that the tickets for the direct buses to the mainland via the bridge during the Easter holiday are sold out almost every day, and the passenger volume is "good and sharp". On the first day of the holiday, more than 50 buses went to the Zhuhai Chimelong Resort station, carrying at least 2,000 individual passengers, setting a record for the most individual passengers in a single station in a single day. On Father's Day at the end of June, Chen Zongyi said that the company has hosted activities organized by the community, and will pick up more than 10,000 Hong Kong people to go north through the bridge in a single day, or break a new high.
According to data released by the Hong Kong Travel Council, about half of the bus groups departing for Guangdong Province during the Easter holiday took the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and the overall number of passengers increased by about 30% compared with the same period last year. "Hong Kong people travel to and from Zhuhai through the bridge, which is more convenient than the previous waterway, can also save a transportation cost, and can enjoy the scenery of Linglingyang along the way, which greatly increases the willingness of citizens to travel." Yang Shixin analyzed that driven by the heat of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the number of tour groups in the west of the Pearl River and other places will continue to grow.
Drive the "bridge iron" new economy
As of the end of March this year, since the opening of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the number of passengers entering and leaving Hong Kong through the port of Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and the port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge of the high-speed rail has exceeded 10 million, and the "bridge rail tour" has brought new impetus to the economic growth of Hong Kong and Macao.
During the Spring Festival, "bridge and iron tour" has become a new choice for Hong Kong and Macao residents, and many products developed by travel agencies around the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway have been favored by tourists, and some have even become characteristic signboard lines, and the number of mainland tourists visiting relatives in Hong Kong and Macao through "one bridge and one railway" has also increased significantly by more than 20%.
During the Qingming Festival, the "Bridge And Rail Tour" was also popular, with more than 500,000 passengers entering and leaving Hong Kong through the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, of which more than 250,000 passengers took the high-speed rail and about 255,000 passengers took the bridge. Many Hong Kong and Macao residents whose ancestral homes are in Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and other places in Guangdong Province choose to drive back to their hometowns through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to worship their ancestors, and the traffic flow on the day of the Qingming Festival is 25% higher than usual.
During the "May Day" period, the "Bridge Iron Tour" was also popular. This has not only facilitated personnel exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, stimulated two-way economic growth, and deepened mutual understanding between Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao residents. It is reported that the MTR is currently in discussion with the mainland to "metro" the ride between West Kowloon Station and Shenzhen North, and passengers can "see the car" when they cross the customs at West Kowloon Station and arrive at the platform. Macao will also build an overpass to optimize traffic near the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and it is foreseeable that the attraction of the "Bridge Rail Tour" for Hong Kong and Macao residents will continue to jump.