East China's Jiangxi Province has launched its first direct
coach service to Macao since the beginning of the new year, two
months after it opened such a coach line to Hong Kong.
The direct coach line is operated between Ganzhou in southern
Jiangxi and Macao by the Jiangxi New Century Automobile Transport
Group Co. Ltd. and the China Travel Service (Macao) Ltd., a
spokesman with the New Century company said.
A deluxe bus manufactured by the Germany-based Neoplan Bus GmbH
departs from the Ganzhou Coach Terminal at 8:35 a.m. every day, and
it takes passengers about 8 hours to reach Macao, the spokesman
said.
Passengers are each charged 195 yuan (26.7 U.S. dollars) for the
669-km journey, he said.
They are transferred to another coach dispatched the China
Travel Service (Macao) Ltd. at the Gongbei Customs in Zhuhai of
Guangdong Province before arriving at their destination, the Bank
of China Tower in Macao, he said.
"The new coach service is expected to boost the outbound tourism
in Ganzhou and strengthen the links with Macao," he said.
Ganzhou, with a population of nearly 8.46 million, is the
largest administrative region of Jiangxi, a cradle of Chinese
revolution.
Statistics from local tourism authorities show that the number
of travelers from Ganzhou to Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia
has reported an annual growth of 17 percent in the past three years
and reached 66,000 in 2006.
A direct coach service between Ganzhou and Hong Kong, the first
of its kind, has been launched since Nov. 17, 2007, with two
coaches traveling on the 7-hour journey every day.
(Gov.cn January 3, 2008)