(Yicai) July 2 -- China will start issuing permits to non-Chinese permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao to enter the Chinese mainland from July 10.

Foreign Hong Kong and Macao residents can travel to and from the Chinese mainland several times with the five-year permit, the National Immigration Administration announced yesterday. Each stay can last up to 90 days, according to a staff member at the NIA.

Many Hong Kong and Macao residents are foreign citizens and providing them with such permits is conducive to their participation in business cooperation with the Chinese mainland, driving the economic and social integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, said Peng Peng, executive president of the Guangdong Institutional Reform Research Association. The policy also helps enhance the international status of the two special administrative regions, Peng added.

Hong Kong and Macao residents have shown strong demand for visiting the Chinese mainland, especially the Greater Bay Area.

Since China rolled out a policy to allow northbound travel for Hong Kong vehicles on July 1 last year, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Control Point has inspected 950,000 such cars as of 4 p.m. on June 30, according to its data.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Zhuhai Port has checked over 12.5 million travelers and 2.5 million vehicles this year, up 113 percent and 102 percent from a year earlier. The number of travelers to and from Hong Kong surged 185 percent to over 5.15 million.

Editor: Martin Kadiev