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The View | Hong Kong property: expect busy 2023 as improved access spurs surge in sentiment
- The willingness of firms to reopen offices here, the expected return of residents who fled harsh pandemic restrictions and low interest rates are just some of the reasons sentiment is turning positive after access to Hong Kong was restored
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Hong Kong is a textbook port city, where goods, cash and people can easily move in and out. That movement very nearly came to a stop in 2020 when Covid-19 swept the globe.
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With the airport closed but for a handful of flights arriving and departing each week, the border with China closed and ferries to Macau halted, rigid pandemic measures essentially made Hong Kong a black hole. When the rest of the world moved on, Hong Kong stayed put.
But what a difference a few weeks makes. First came the relaxed three-day testing and self-monitoring scheme for arrivals. Then, the government dropped the requirement for multiple PCR tests. In December, the mandatory “Leave Home Safe” scans at restaurants, cinemas and other public venues were scrapped.
The feather in the cap came with the announcement that vaccine passes, PCR tests and home quarantine for close contacts of Covid-19 patients was over, followed by China’s about-face over its own “zero-Covid” policies. There are expectations the mainland border will be open for quarantine-free travel on January 8.
It is not a minute too soon. A textbook port city cannot function the way it should – and has – when Hongkongers are locked inside and the world is locked out. The emigration wave didn’t help.
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Zoom is great in a pinch, but it pales in comparison to face-to-face meetings. Put simply, the resumption of international travel and reopening the border with the mainland is a game changer.
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