Chinese mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are riding high on a growing influx of Hong Kong and Macao residents, as well as overseas tourists, particularly during the Spring Festival or long public holiday breaks. However, they could further enhance the region’s tourism appeal through themed tours, enabling visitors to immerse themselves in Chinese culture, according to industry insiders.
They say cities in Guangdong province should leverage their unique resources and geographical characteristics to offer differently themed tourist attractions.
Renowned for its abundant tourism resources and mild winter weather, the 11-city cluster has traditionally been a favored destination for mainland travelers on festive occasions. The region is now drawing more visitors from abroad, as well as the two special administrative regions.
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The surge in Hong Kong and Macao tourists is partly because of a suite of preferential policies and measures to promote cross-boundary travel, shopping, dining, entertainment, payment and language services that have significantly optimized the travel experience.
The region’s tourism momentum has also been amplified by a growing stream of overseas visitors during the Chinese New Year holidays, driven by China’s expanded visa-free policy.
A report by online travel platform Fliggy last month showed that international flight bookings for the upcoming Year of the Horse festive season have surged by more than 400 percent year-on-year in the past two weeks. Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore were among the chief source countries for bookings. Among the top five destinations favored by foreigners, the Greater Bay Area took up two spots — Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Since 2023, a surge in the number of Hong Kong residents heading for the mainland has expanded to include tourists from various countries and regions worldwide. The shift underscores Guangdong’s strong appeal to foreign visitors, says Zhang Xiaoduan, deputy dean at the Cushman and Wakefield Research Institute.
“As Guangdong strengthens global promotion of its cultural tourism brand, along with favorable policies, such as 240-hour visa-free transit, the province’s allure has transcended regional boundaries, extending its reach to Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and other world markets,” she says.
Zhang suggests that cities in the region align their offers with core resources and geographical features to create various themed tourist routes.
Guangzhou can leverage its strengths as a commercial hub to create “wholesale-plus-tourism” routes, Shenzhen can highlight tech experiences, Fo-shan can dig deep into its local cultural heritage, and Jiangmen can leverage its overseas Chinese heritage.
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Vincent Liu, vice-chairman of the Shenzhen Travel Agency Industry Association, says inbound tourism for the Spring Festival in the Greater Bay Area is embracing triple dividends from policy initiatives, a favorable market and culture.
To seize these opportunities, he calls on mainland cities in the region to create characteristic Chinese New Year intellectual property brands, further optimize cross-boundary customs clearance and payment services, and collaborate on marketing with Hong Kong, Macao and overseas platforms.
“With deepened regional integration, expanded visa-free policies and growing global recognition brought by inclusion of the Spring Festival in The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the number of foreign tourists in China is expected to rise by 50 percent year-on-year in 2026,” Liu predicts. “And celebrating the Spring Festival in the country will become a global trend.”
