GUANGZHOU -- More than 20 million inbound and outbound passengers have traveled through the Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge so far in 2024, an increase of 86 percent year on year, and exceeding the total volume of the whole of last year, official data released on Friday shows.

This also marks the first time since the official opening of the bridge that the annual passenger flow has exceeded the milestone of 20 million people.

This increasing number of Hong Kong and Macao passengers heading north is becoming the main force driving the rapid growth of passenger traffic at the port. Since the beginning of this year, more than 12 million Hong Kong and Macao travelers have entered or left the Chinese mainland via this port, up 83.3 percent year on year, and accounting for over 60 percent of total port passenger traffic during the period, local border inspection authorities said.

The 55-km bridge links China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the city of Zhuhai in the southern Guangdong Province, and Macao SAR.