Hong Kong residents celebrate end of dreaded hotel quarantine but do not think it will be enough to lure tourists
- Residents are overjoyed but are concerned city may take a long time to undo the damage caused by quarantine measures
- Business travellers are worried that the change in measures may cause confusion at airports
Matthew Burgess could not help but feel emotional when Hong Kong finally announced the end of mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals on Friday.
“It is a big deal. After a rough, long 2½ years, everyone feels a bit emotional,” the 32-year-old Hong Kong resident from Britain said. “It’s the feeling of having a bit more freedom before getting on the plane. There are going to be lots of celebrations going on in the city tonight.”
The feeling was mixed, though. Underlying his excitement and relief, there was also anger about the length of time that it took Hong Kong authorities to scrap this practice and the damage it caused.
“A lot of people have left. They may not have had this policy not been in place for so long. Hong Kong’s reputation certainly suffered,” Burgess said. “I think Hong Kong will bounce back, but I just don’t know how quick it will be.”
Under the new rule, arrivals would not have to go through hotel quarantine but three days of medical surveillance, in which they are allowed to go out but not to high-risk premises such as restaurants and bars. They could do so on the fourth day if they tested negative on the day before.
Burgess, who operates the Hong Kong office of a London property developer, had spent 31 days in total under quarantine this year.
After visiting his family in the UK in January, he was confined in the quarantine facility in Penny’s Bay for four days, then a hotel suite in Kennedy Town for 17 days straight when he returned to Hong Kong.
