National People's Congress Standing Committee member Starry Lee on Friday said she hopes the newly restored multi-entry visa scheme for Shenzhen residents can be extended to cover more cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Lee said the SAR saw more mainland visitors over Christmas, which benefited the retail, catering and hospitality sectors. "We believe that with the close monitoring of the implementation, more and more cities in the GBA in particular can have more relaxed visa application procedures so that more people from different cities in the Guangdong area can come to Hong Kong to visit and we can exchange more," she said. Lee earlier attended a standing committee meeting in Beijing where she said 10 bills were discussed and some, involving value-added tax, the Supervision Law and the Science and Technology Popularisation Law, were passed. The 14th National People's Congress will open its third annual session in the capital on March 5, and Lee described 2025 as a "critical year", saying Hong Kong should play a more active role in inviting foreign investment and attracting talent.
