The newly opened Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has made an unprecedented impact on road transport between Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao, making it much more convenient and opening tourism opportunities for all sides to tap.

“Many of our international guests, tennis referees, and enthusiasts chose to fly to Hong Kong and make their way to Zhuhai via the bridge for the WTA event,” said Chen Chi, executive deputy general manager of Huafa Sports Operations Management Co, which managed the six-day 2018 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, a women’s professional tournament, that ended on Nov 4.

“They told me they felt intoxicated by the magnificent project and were deeply impressed by the convenience of transport via the bridge from the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong to Zhuhai,” Chen told China Daily.

The bridge, which opened to traffic on Oct 24, reduces the drive time from the Hong Kong airport to Zhuhai to roughly one hour, compared with the four to five hours or even much longer by bus and ferry previously.

He said that Hong Kong and Macao have been an important source of fans attending the WTA event in the past few years, accounting for 3 percent of the 45,600 in attendance recorded last year.

“I believe for sure we will see more audience from Hong Kong and Macao this year and the bridge is among the major reasons,” Chen said ahead of the international tennis tournament.

Likewise, the executive committee of Airshow China 2018, with the possible surge of visitors via the bridge in mind, is offering shuttle bus services back and forth from the ports of Hong Kong and Zhuhai to make their journey even more convenient.

Zheng Tianxiang, a professor with the center for studies of Hong Kong, Macao and the Pearl River Delta of Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, said that the bridge would be economically and socially conducive to the three cities’ development.

The tourism industry is definitely the one that benefits most.

“The bridge helps to improve the flow of population and capital and traffic efficiency while lowering the logistics costs,” Zheng said.