End to Hong Kong Covid hotel quarantine and just 3 days of medical surveillance not enough to boost economy, business leaders warn
- International business groups, industry leaders warn new ‘scheme will not be enough to lift economy
- Business travellers and tourists will be put off if they cannot visit restaurants, pubs freely, they argue
International business groups and industry leaders have warned that Hong Kong’s coming relaxation of Covid-19 travel curbs do not go far enough towards reviving the economy and instead called for an end to all monitoring requirements for arrivals.
They were speaking after the government announced on Friday the city would switch from a “3+4” scheme that required arrivals undergo three days of hotel quarantine and four more under medical surveillance to a less onerous “0+3” regime, with the change coming into effect on Monday.
The relaxation included doing away with the “Return2HK” and “Come2HK” quotas that limited the number of Hong Kong residents and visitors coming from mainland China and Macau who were exempted from quarantine, and which was previously set at 8,500 a day in total. But those arrivals will still be barred from going to restaurants and bars during the medical surveillance period.
Inaki Amate, the vice-chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and president of the local Spanish Chamber of Commerce, told the Post earlier that all restrictions should be dropped to revitalise the economy.
“It has to be no restrictions, no quarantine, no tests,” he said. “Any restrictions … are going to be perceived as a limitation for coming in, while everywhere else it is possible to move around freely.”
Amate said visitors would be put off if they were not allowed to meet clients in restaurants, for example, and would instead wait until the city was “fully open”.
Several business chambers had reported about 20 per cent of their individual members had left Hong Kong, but the figure was lower for corporate affiliates, he added.
