The cross-border travel between the Chinese mainland, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will resume fully on February 6, dropping existing quotas, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council announced on Friday.

Citing a circular by the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism - the country's top COVID-19 control task force, the office said that starting from Monday, the mainland will no longer cap the number of passengers arriving from the two SARs via land ports in Guangdong Province.

Besides, passengers arriving from the regions via land ports in Guangdong Province will also no longer need to make reservations, and group tours will be resumed from Monday, according to the circular.

Inbound passengers do not need to provide negative test proof if they haven't traveled overseas over the previous seven days. If they have recently traveled overseas, they will need to provide negative test proof within 48 hours, the circular said. 

It said that inbound passengers with abnormal health codes, or those with high body temperatures, will be tested by customs officers, and COVID-19 positive passengers can choose to isolate at home or a hospital on the mainland. 

According to the circular, authorities will work to open more ports to handle the influx of passengers and bolster the capacity of passenger transport companies.

The measures are steps further than the measures taken when the Hong Kong SAR resumed cross-border travel with the Chinese mainland on January 8 - the day China's downgraded COVID-19 measures took effect.

At that time, a quota system and COVID-19 testing requirements remained for travelers between the mainland and Hong Kong. 

The announcement quickly became one of the hot-searched topics on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with many internet users expressing their support.

"It's really good news as I can finally reunite with my wife and children in Hong Kong," said an internet user named LYNgirl. 

Data from Alibaba's travel portal Feizhu showed that the popularity of travel to Hong Kong and Macao has soared. It said that the search volume of tickets to Hong Kong and Macao increased by more than two times, adding that the search popularity of Hong Kong travel immediately increased by more than 371 percent, and the search popularity of Macao travel increased by 324 percent.

In addition, the announcement came a day after Hong Kong launched a promotion campaign including 500,000 free flights to lure back visitors, businesses and investors to the financial hub after years of tough COVID-19 curbs.

Hong Kong was largely sealed off behind closed borders for much of the past three years in a bid to ward off COVID-19, with mandatory quarantine of up to three weeks for people arriving as well as COVID-19 testing and screening.

Hong Kong dropped most of its remaining COVID-19 rules in December, but mask-wearing remains mandatory unless exercising, and students must take daily rapid antigen tests.

Macao looks to the opportunity to boost the economy affected by COVID-19. The Macao Government Tourism Office announced on Friday it plans to distribute 120,000 free airline tickets this year.

Fully resuming personnel exchanges between the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao, as well as implementing the policy of resuming mainland tour groups to Macao, will play a significant role in promoting the recovery of Macao's tourism and economic vitality, said Lei Wai Nong, Macao SAR government secretary for economy and finance, at a press conference.