The first batch of tourists visiting the eastern artificial island of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge pose for a photo in south China, Dec. 15, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

More than 16.3 million inbound and outbound passengers and 3.26 million vehicles passed through Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) in 2023, 1.29 times and 3.8 times that of 2019, respectively, official data shows.

Tour groups drove the main passenger flow last year via the bridge, the longest bridge-and-tunnel sea crossing in the world, according to the bridge's border inspection station on Tuesday.

Data shows that in 2023, more than 45,000 mainland tour groups traveled to and from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Macao SAR via the bridge. In the meantime, residents in Hong Kong and Macao paid a record high of almost 10 million visits to the mainland via the bridge.

In 2023, the highest single-day passenger flow via the bridge reached 115,000, hitting a new high since the bridge entered into operation, noted a staffer at the station.

The 55-km HZMB links China's Hong Kong SAR, the city of Zhuhai in the southern Guangdong Province, and Macao SAR. It has brought tremendous opportunities and benefits to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.