The new 24-km Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge has cut down the travelling time between Shenzhen and Zhongshan from two hours to 30 minutes, spurring tourism within Greater Bay Area (GBA) and courting more traffic to and from Hong Kong.
Commissioned on June 30, this mega link includes a sea-crossing bridge, a subsea tunnel, artificial islands and an underground interchange, connecting Shenzhen, Zhongshan, and Nansha District of Guangzhou. It also boasts the only direct expressway connecting Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou with Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen.
Hong Kong-based Sino Step Travel Service branch manager Wing Chan plans to roll out at least 20 new tour itineraries using the new bridge and expects business to increase by two thirds. She shared that the mass market is their target, and that the one-day tour to Zhongshan has been popular among senior travellers.
“For sure, the new bridge experience will stimulate desire for travel (as well as) more time to explore sightseeing and shopping,” she said. “In addition to Zhongshan city, nearby areas like the western part of Guangdong Province will also benefit (from it).”
She is confident that this route will remain in demand for quite a while, unlike the dissipating Shenzhen shopping tours to Sam’s and Costco that “Hongkongers craved for earlier this year”.
The Hongkong-Zhongshan route is currently operated by Eternal East (E&E) Cross-Border Coach Management. Its deputy chief operating officer, Paul Tse, explained that the route has cut the travel time from Hong Kong to Zhongshan by 45 minutes. The cost of a one-way bus fare has also been lowered from HK$110-120 (US$14-15) to HK$90-$100.
Tse commented: “We have also boosted the frequency of services between both cities – from 26 to 40 times per day. Moreover, we are thankful to have benefitted from the government’s labour importation scheme last month (where) Mainland Chinese bus drivers arrived to alleviate the acute labour shortage.”
To mark the inauguration of the bridge, its sister company E&E Tours had also rolled out a special two-day-one-night Zhongshan tour – all 60 seats were snapped up in an instant.
In addition, tourism stakeholders comprising airline, travel trade associations and hotels paid a visit to the site on June 21 for an inspection.
Travel Industry Council chairman Gianna Hsu hopes more visitors from overseas will adopt multi-destination tourism and visit the GBA via the bridge.
“In the meantime, Mainland Chinese FITs can enjoy a better access to Hong Kong, and we are pleased to see agents proactively preparing various tour programmes by leveraging on this bridge,” noted Hsu.