NPC Deputy Proposes Greater Bay Area Travel Card

A local deputy to the National People's Congress on Sunday proposed that professionals working or living within the Greater Bay Area be given a special travel card in future, so they can travel to different cities within the area easily and without having to apply for a visa or a permit.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam earlier said there would be a symposium on the outline development plan on Thursday.

Speaking at RTHK's City Forum, Witman Hung said while it was easy for Hong Kong people to travel to the mainland, it is still a hassle for mainland professionals to take a short trip to the city.

He said they have to apply for a travel or work visa, which has lots of restrictions. But he said that could be changed if immigration authorities from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau agreed to jointly issue a travel card to a fixed number of business, technology or education professionals, including foreigners living in Hong Kong.

Hung said to start with, authorities could issue the travel card to just 4,000 people - 3,000 for people from the three places, and another 1,000 for international travellers.

He said he had already presented his idea to the Chief Executive Carrie Lam last week, and said he is also going to submit a written proposal to the National People's Congress for its next annual session in March.