Official statistics

Passenger traffic between the mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions reached a record high during the ongoing Spring Festival holiday, according to official statistics. More than 144,000 passenger trips were made on the mainland section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on Tuesday, marking the busiest day for the section since the massive bridge opened in late 2018, said the border inspection station on the mainland side. The travelers were carried by more than 18,000 buses and cars, which was a record for the most vehicles handled by any Chinese border port in one day, said the inspection station, which is located in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, in a news release on Wednesday. On Monday, the station recorded more than 130,000 trips - higher than any single previous day. The travel peaks represented ever-increasing enthusiasm about intercity travel in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area during the Chinese Lunar New Year period. Most people in the Greater Bay Area speak Cantonese and share the same social customs, consumption preferences and culinary habits. In recent years, thanks to the rapid growth of the service sector on the mainland, many Hong Kong and Macao residents have become used to spending…