Macao, China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of cityscape, tourists
2. Business street, visitors
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director, Macao Government Tourist Office:
"Up to now at this point of time, we are at about eight percent up compared to the year before, so we are looking at probably at the end of this year 35 million visitors."
4. Various of interview in progress
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director, Macao Government Tourist Office:
"We're looking at the bridge as a very important piece of infrastructure to help us connect to the world. Our own airport has only regional flights, so we obviously need other places or other connectivity through especially Hong Kong International Airport to help us tap into the medium to long-haul markets."

FILE: Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, south China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

Macao, China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Road signs leading to tourist attractions
8. Various of Mount Fortress, tourists
9. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Mrs. Wei, tourist from Shanghai (full name not given):
"We are planning to go to Hong Kong as our next destination. My mother suffers from sea sickness and she can't take the ferry to Hong Kong. But after the opening of the bridge, she can go to Hong Kong by bus."
10. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Mr. Zhao, businessman operator in Macao from Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province (full name not given):
"It would be very convenient as people can travel at any time by multiple means and go to each of the tourist attractions quite easily."
11. People walking
12. Building
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director, Macao Government Tourist Office (starting with shot 12):
"The bridge itself is a very, very important piece of infrastructure especially when we are talking about the Greater Bay Area. So we are looking at, of course, now planning ahead in terms of working together with our partners in the region to go out and promote the entire Greater Bay as one brand."
14. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) is expected to enjoy a fast-growing tourism industry with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to be inaugurated Wednesday.

With only a regional airport, the SAR sees its tourists have to travel through Hong Kong or elsewhere on China's mainland. The new 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge and tunnel connecting the tourist hot spot to Hong Kong and Zhuhai is about to change all of that.

"Up to now at this point of time, we are at about eight percent up compared to the year before, so we are looking at probably at the end of this year 35 million visitors," said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of Macao Government Tourist Office.

"We're looking at the bridge as a very important piece of infrastructure to help us connect to the world. Our own airport has only regional flights so we obviously need other places or other connectivity through especially Hong Kong International Airport to help us tap into the medium to long-haul markets," she added.

The 55-kilometer sea crossing bridge, the world's longest, will cut travel times between the three cities in southern China to about half an hour, making for an easy commute rather than a much longer, weather-dependent ferry ride.

"We are planning to go to Hong Kong as our next destination. My mother suffers from sea sickness and she can't take the ferry to Hong Kong. But after the opening of the bridge, she can go to Hong Kong by bus," said Mrs. Wei from Shanghai.

"It would be very convenient as people can travel at any time by multiple means and go to each of the tourist attractions quite easily," echoed Mr. Zhao, a businessman operator from Zhongshan City of south China's Guangdong Province.

Macao is not only ready to embrace the great opportunities in tourism brought by the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge but also aspires to prosper with cooperation and coordination in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

"The bridge itself is a very very important piece of infrastructure especially when we are talking about the Greater Bay Area. So we are looking at, of course, now planning ahead in terms of working together with our partners in the region to go out and promote the entire Great Bay as one brand," Maria said.