THE 55-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has served over 24 million passengers — an average 67,000 per day — since its opening Oct. 24 last year, according to the Guangdong government.

Over 70,000 vehicles from Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao have registered to be able to use the bridge, and since its opening, over 1.5 million vehicles have crossed the bridge.

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said the bridge has become a tourist spot across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area due to its unique engineering design and the magnificent views of mountains, city and sea.

Chui said the bridge has attracted a growing number of travelers to and from Hong Kong since its opening, with the travel time to traverse the structure’s span under one hour.

However, he said that due to recent unrest in Hong Kong, visitation to the city from across the world has slumped.

Chui hopes Hong Kong will return to order as soon as possible, and he believed the number of travelers will pick up afterward.

He hopes tourist facilities on the artificial island at the eastern end of the bridge will open to visitors soon and further unleash the tourism potential of the structure.

As of the end of September, goods with a total value of US$8.4 billion had been transported across the bridge, with products coming from 26 provinces on the Chinese mainland. Over 90 percent of the goods were from Zhuhai.

(China Daily)