As the New Year approaches, the commercial districts of various sizes in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area are bustling with activity. In Hong Kong, shops filled with New Year's flowers are in full bloom, full of spring spirit; In Macao, the memorial archway of Dasanba and other places are crowded with people, who are busy taking photos and buying New Year's goods; In Guangzhou, supermarkets and restaurants are lining up in long queues, and bookings for group New Year's meals are booming, with smoke and fire rising everywhere; In Shenzhen, exquisite lighting illuminates the streets and alleys, decorating and beautifying the streets to welcome the Chinese New Year... The interweaving of people traveling north and south has sparked a cross-border consumption boom, allowing people to feel the strong New Year flavor early on and reflecting the "hot and steamy" consumer market in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. The crowd is bustling with people saying, "Boss, give me two pounds of this cured meat." At the Futian Agricultural Products Wholesale Market in Shenzhen, the New Year's Goods Festival has begun. Among the bustling crowd, many people came from Hong Kong with large suitcases to buy New Year's goods, and Mr. Chen, a Hong Kong citizen, is one of them. High speed rail travel is very convenient! There are many trains between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and you can buy tickets at any time. You can leave at any time, "Mr. Chen said. Recently, many supermarkets in Shenzhen have also opened free cross-border New Year's goods buses, covering multiple ports, making it more convenient for Hong Kong people to" buy, buy ". The Shenzhen Luohu Commercial City, which has a 30-year history, has been bustling with people and a busy scene in recent days. In front of a roasted meat and cooked food restaurant, Ms. Li from Hong Kong said, "Roasted meat here is cheap and delicious. We often come here to buy it, and there are also discounts on teeth and glasses." On the other side of the cross-border port, Hong Kong is also experiencing a shopping boom. In the city center of Tuen Mun, a 15 minute drive from Shenzhen Bay Port, Shenzhen residents carrying large and small bags are enthusiastic about shopping. The Hong Kong market offers a wide range of product categories, especially some imported goods that cannot be found in Shenzhen. As a souvenir for visiting relatives and friends during the Spring Festival, they are very popular. Every time I go to Hong Kong to buy New Year's goods, I have returned with a full load this year, "said Ms. Zhao, a Shenzhen resident who has been shopping for New Year's goods in Hong Kong for many years. Red lanterns hang high, and auspicious Spring Festival couplets extend from the streets all the way to the end... At the Xingfu Road New Year's Wholesale Street in Zhuhai, the dazzling array of New Year's goods attracts batches of citizens to come and purchase. Recently, many residents from Hong Kong and Macau have also come here to admire the Spring Festival couplets and New Year decorations, "said Mr. Li, the stall owner. The orders for this year's reunion dinner and spring tea party are very popular, and the reservation phone keeps ringing Mr. Guo, who works at a restaurant in Macau, happily said that there has been a continuous stream of tourists coming to Macau recently, and he believes that business during the Spring Festival holiday will definitely be easy to do. In recent times, new policies such as the "one visa, multiple travel" policy for Shenzhen residents to travel to Hong Kong, the "one week, one travel" policy for Zhuhai residents to travel to Macau, and the "one visa, multiple travel" policy for residents of the Hengqin Guangdong Macau Deep Cooperation Zone to travel to Macau have been successively launched. The continuous optimization of "Hong Kong cars heading north" and "Macau cars heading north", coupled with increasingly convenient cross-border payment and customs clearance modes, have accelerated the "two-way travel" of cross-border consumption in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. Since New Year's Day this year, the number of tourists visiting Macau has seen a significant increase, with an average of 100000 visitors per day on weekends Wen Qihua, Director of the Tourism Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, said that on the eve of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake, many mainland tourists visited Macao to purchase New Year goods, and the market was prosperous. Next, Macau will hold a series of Chinese New Year activities, hoping to attract more tourists to visit. Data shows that as of January 14th, the exit and entry management departments of public security organs have issued a total of 299000 "one visa, multiple travel" visas for Hong Kong tourism, 59000 "one week, multiple travel" visas for Macau tourism, and more than 6000 "one visa, multiple travel" visas for Macau tourism, with a significant increase in passenger flow to Hong Kong and Macau. Many Hong Kong shop owners have stated that benefiting from the central government's restoration and expansion of the "one visa, multiple travel" arrangement for Shenzhen residents to Hong Kong, the number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong has significantly increased, and the consumer market has improved significantly. There are more tourists, business is doing well, and income is also increasing Chen Ying, an employee of a store in Causeway Bay, said that her friends around her, whether they are engaged in catering or retail, are becoming increasingly popular. More and more friends are smiling, everyone is so happy! "She said. Alipay Hong Kong, WeChat Hong Kong wallet, Shenzhen Hong Kong bus and subway code scanning interchange, etc., make cross-border consumption of residents in the Greater Bay Area more convenient. Nowadays, many Hong Kong tourists use mobile payments for consumption, and we have also opened free cross-border mobile WiFi services, solving the obstacles caused by the lack of universal mobile networks, "said Zhuang Meirong, the general manager of the Shenzhen Leading Exhibition Center City project. Chen Ruidong, General Manager of Hong Kong China Travel Service, stated that it has become a norm for Hong Kong people to travel north for consumption. The transportation network in the Greater Bay Area is well connected, bringing more popularity to mainland merchants and providing Hong Kong people with more cost-effective consumption choices. The in-depth implementation of policies such as "one visa, multiple travel" has brought "dividends" to the economic development of Hong Kong and Macao, promoting the deep integration and development of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. According to statistics, the traffic volume of the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge will increase by 90% year-on-year in 2024, with "Hong Kong cars heading north" and "Macao cars heading north" exceeding 4.5 million vehicles. The Guangzhou Shenzhen Hong Kong high-speed railway will send 13.988 million passengers from the mainland to Hong Kong and 13.423 million passengers from Hong Kong to the mainland, including 7.967 million passengers from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, a year-on-year increase of 43%. As the Spring Festival approaches, the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao is becoming increasingly prosperous with smooth traffic, people, and wealth, and the passenger flow at various cross-border ports continues to rise. According to statistics from the Hengqin Border Inspection Station, on January 18th, the number of inbound and outbound passengers at Hengqin Port exceeded 100000, and the number of vehicles exceeded 8800, an increase of 67% and 51% year-on-year, respectively. According to data from the Guangzhou Shenzhen Hong Kong high-speed railway, there were over 250000 cross-border passengers arriving and departing in the first five days of this year's Spring Festival travel rush. It is expected that the total cross-border passenger flow during the Spring Festival travel rush will reach 4.15 million. To ensure smooth flow of people and goods, border inspection and customs departments have improved their services and enhanced clearance efficiency through multiple measures at the Zhuhai Highway Port of the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge. At the Shenzhen Bay Port, Southern Power Grid Shenzhen Nanshan Power Supply Bureau upgraded and renovated the power lines in the public transportation connection area of the port in advance, and arranged emergency repair teams and emergency equipment in advance to respond to emergencies, ensuring the normal operation of power supply at the port. According to Lv Ning, spokesperson for the National Immigration Administration and deputy director of the Comprehensive Department, the implementation of a series of policies not only promotes the continuous increase of two-way travel between mainland and Hong Kong and Macao residents, but also further facilitates mainland residents to visit Hong Kong and Macao for sightseeing, tourism, shopping and consumption, promotes the economic and social development of Hong Kong and Macao, and serves the better integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall national development. (New Society)