GUANGZHOU, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Zhuhai land port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has handled over 100 million inbound and outbound passenger trips as of Tuesday, since the mega project opened to traffic in October 2018 -- a milestone that mirrors the advancement of regional connectivity and integration.

"Traveling between Guangdong and Hong Kong used to involve multiple transfers and be time-consuming. Now I can drive directly to my Hong Kong clients' offices. Doing business has become easier," said Chen Zhaochang, a Guangdong resident who runs a vehicle parts trade business between the two regions.

The 55-kilometer bridge links the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and the city of Zhuhai, all of which are located in south China. As the world's longest bridge-and-tunnel sea crossing, it has drastically reduced travel times between Hong Kong and Zhuhai, and between Hong Kong and Macao, from three hours to about 45 minutes.

According to the bridge's Zhuhai border inspection station in Guangdong Province, it took over five years to reach the 50-millionth passenger crossing, and just one year and eight months to reach another 50 millionth trip.

Residents of Hong Kong or Macao have made over 58.73 million trips passing through the Zhuhai land port of the bridge, accounting for 58.7 percent of total passenger flows. In 2025, the port recorded 18 million crossings by residents of the two special administrative regions, a nearly 300 percent jump from 2019. Figures demonstrate the increasing popularity and convenience of tourism, business, study and family visit trips.

Hong Kong resident Ho Chi-hong and his wife have bought a house and settled in Guangdong's Zhongshan. "We are satisfied with the dining, shopping, accommodation and medical care here. My family and friends in Hong Kong also drive to visit us. My living radius has expanded," he said.

Amid a wave of "China Travel" and benefiting from the country's 240-hour visa-free transit policy, an increasing number of international travelers have also chosen the Zhuhai land port as their entry and exit checkpoint, as it is directly linked to Hong Kong International Airport. In 2025, the land port recorded 569,000 foreign passenger trips -- a year-on-year increase of 28.7 percent.

The growing number of passenger trips on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is an epitome of the deepening economic and social integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

With less than 1 percent of China's total land area and 6 percent of the national population, GBA's GDP expanded to 14.79 trillion yuan (about 2.11 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2024, contributing one-ninth of the country's economic output and surpassing that of the New York Bay Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.