On her first trip outside the mainland, Zhou Yuyu, a university freshman from the northwestern city of Xi'an, took on a “special forces-style cultural tour,“ cramming visits to Hong Kong's major museums and artistic landmarks into just two days. “From ancient temples to modern art galleries, from traditional opera to trendy street art -- diverse cultures coexist harmoniously here,“ she marvels.

　　The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, opened in October 2018, has made day trips from nearby mainland cities more convenient. Chen Huilan, from the southern city of Zhongshan, took advantage of this connectivity to bring her family on a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong's cultural attractions. “We visited the Hong Kong Palace Museum and M+, and we're ending the day with a Kun Opera performance at the Xiqu Centre,“ she says, impressed by the city's rapid development in creative industries and its innovative curatorial styles.

　　For many, however, Hong Kong's real charm lies in its streets. Increasingly, tourists are opting for “city walks,“ urban wandering that offer local experiences, from enjoying beef brisket rice noodles at a cha chaan teng and watching the sunset at Kennedy Town's waterfront promenade to strolling through the layered streets of Sai Ying Pun.

　　Zheng Lin, a travel enthusiast from east China's coastal city of Qingdao, embraced this approach during her four-day visit. Starting from the revitalized Tai Kwun complex, she wandered through the historic yet tech-savvy Central Market, picking up vintage cameras, vinyl records, canvas bags and street scene posters along the way.

　　“I could sit here all afternoon,“ she muses, sitting with a coffee in the market's atrium, “watching the world go by as the old clock on the wall seems to turn back time.“