The Southbound Travel for Guangdong Vehicles plan, which allows vehicles from Guangdong province to head south to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, was officially published on Friday, with an aim to further strengthen personnel exchanges and interaction between the two sides.

According to a statement released by Guangdong's provincial department of public security on Friday, the plan consists of two parts, including a parking policy at Hong Kong border checkpoints and a policy allowing Guangdong vehicles to enter the SAR's urban area. The first phase will initially open to Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, and Zhongshan, before expanding to other cities across the province six months later.

Starting Saturday, private car owners in Guangdong who meet the requirements can apply to travel to Hong Kong via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. After getting approval from authorities, they can start their southbound travel journey to the SAR to park in automated parking lots in the border areas beginning Nov 15 and enter into the urban areas starting Dec 23.

The daily quota is 100 cars, and the monthly quota comes to 1,700.

The plan will help accelerate the GBA's integrated development, including the Guangdong cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing, along with Hong Kong and Macao.

Previously, the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles plan was implemented on July 1, 2023, allowing private car owners from the SAR to drive to Guangdong via the bridge without having to apply for a Chinese mainland private vehicle registration plate.

Since then, the number of private car owners in Hong Kong applying to enter Guangdong has steadily increased to more than 100,000.