Tourists watch lion dance at the Hong'an ancient town in Xiushan Tujia and Miao autonomous county, southwest China's Chongqing, April 30, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Ltd will launch more characteristic tourism products and programs to help Hong Kong residents better experience the charms and development of the motherland.

The products will feature the Chinese mainland's iconic theme parks, regional cuisine, and one-stop travel packages, and will better integrate with cultural and technological elements, said Chen Ruidong, CTSHK general manager. The State-owned tourism and travel agency will continue to serve as a one-stop touring services provider for Hong Kong residents, he added.

In a Monday interview with various media outlets, Chen said that since the full resumption of physical exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong, the city's tourism industry has steadily recovered, with a surging demand from Hong Kong residents to visit the mainland.

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The mainland has also witnessed great changes and is believed to hold surprises for Hong Kong residents, Chen said.

In an effort to boost people-to-people exchanges, CTSHK will launch more culinary tourism projects and include catering services to the touring products, as "food is always a major part of tourism", Chen said.

Driven by the surging demand for cross-border travel, the company has assisted more than 650,000 Hong Kong residents applying for home return permits, a document that enables Hong Kong people to travel to and from the mainland

For example, tourists can realize the close connections between Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities by learning about Shunde cuisine's impact on Cantonese food during their visit to the district in the city of Foshan, Chen said.

Chan said that in recent years, the mainland tourism industry has changed from plain sightseeing to providing a full range of leisure and entertainment experiences, including shopping and education.

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For example, Yangtian Lake, located in the grassy hinterland of Hunan province, has been a hot spot for Hong Kong people eager to take a break from the high-density urban area. In the scenic area two hours by high-speed rail from Hong Kong, tourists can enjoy the beautiful natural landscape and high-end homestays.

Following the trend, the company has been enriching cultural and technological elements in its tourism products.

Attractions like museums in Guangdong, and Huawei's research-and-development center in Dongguan, can help Hong Kong tourists enjoy firsthand the mainland's splendid culture and its technological development.

In one special tour arranged by the company, more than 200 Hong Kong residents were offered a chance to witness a rocket launch on the mainland, and according to Chen, the participants said they felt proud of the motherland's achievements after the meaningful tour.

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Chen said CTSHK is also promoting mainland theme parks, which have also undergone great development, including improved services and characterized facilities and performances. For example, the grand Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou contains more than 60 attractions, including 10 inverted roller coasters, and the amusement-park chain Fantawild Adventure features interactive installations with science fiction themes.

According to the company, Hong Kong's tourism industry has seen an all-around recovery in 2023, with 13 million visitors coming to Hong Kong in the first half of the year.

The company's hotels have recovered better than expected, as demonstrated by the 95 percent hotel occupancy rate, according to company statistics.

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Driven by the surging demand for cross-border travel, the company has assisted more than 650,000 Hong Kong residents applying for home return permits, a document that enables Hong Kong people to travel to and from the mainland. In the second half of the year, the company expects to handle a maximum of 9,000 applications per day for permits.

The company also revealed that, to facilitate the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles — which allows Hong Kong private cars to travel between Hong Kong and Guangdong via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge — the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department has authorized CTSHK to set up a vehicle inspection center in Hong Kong, to make sure that cars meet the safety standards of the program.

The company has prepared some automated equipment. It expects to inspect 500 vehicles per day.