Tourists visit Hengqin, South China's Guangdong Province, on October 3, 2025 during the National Day holidays. Photo: Courtesy of Hengqin Ferry Terminal

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has seen a significant cross-border travel boom so far during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays.

In the first five days, passenger traffic through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge port in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, exceeded 500,000, an increase of 13.2 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the Zhuhai exit-entry inspection station on Monday. 

Vehicle traffic surpassed 110,000 trips at the bridge's checkpoint, up by more than 18.2 percent, ranking the first among all Chinese border ports, data from the station showed.

The Hengqin checkpoint in Zhuhai, saw major passenger and vehicle flow over the holiday's first four days. The border station handled over 452,000 travelers, up 22.5 percent year-on-year, and 42,000 vehicles, a 44.8 percent increase compared with last year, haiwainet.cn reported on Monday.

The report also said that since the holidays began on October 1, approximately 212,000 mainland travelers have crossed Hengqin checkpoint, marking a year-on-year increase of about 19.1 percent.

As a key water transport hub, the Hengqin Ferry Terminal saw a steady stream of visitors, with island-hopping tours emerging as a top choice for holidaymakers. The terminal handled over 20,000 passengers from October 1 to 3, a 4.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to a statement the terminal sent to the Global Times on Monday.

To meet surging demand, the terminal increased capacity, averaging over 50 daily inbound and outbound cruise trips during the holiday. A special firework sailing proved a hit, with passenger traffic soaring 184 percent year-on-year, the statement said.

Hengqin was only a representative of the tourism boom in the GBA. 

In the first five days of the holidays, more than 1.03 million tourists from the Chinese mainland visited Hong Kong, according to the latest data from the Immigration Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

According to estimates by Hong Kong's Immigration Department in late September, around 8.76 million passengers are expected to be in and out of Hong Kong during this year's National Day holidays, of which around 1.54 million passengers are from the Chinese mainland, with the daily average visitor arrivals expected to increase by 11 percent year-on-year.

Global Times