Hong Kong’s catering, tourism operators hope double-digit growth on the menu after 3 starved years of Covid restrictions
- Some face ‘happy problem’ of finding enough staff to fill roles as trade picks up after most pandemic controls lifted
- Tourism industry leader Fanny Yeung hopes sector can rebound to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the third quarter of 2023
Hong Kong’s catering and tourism sectors have applauded the government’s decision to drop almost all Covid-19 measures, with operators expecting business to hit double-digit growth or rebound to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels later next year.
One tourism industry leader said they now faced the “happy problem” of finding enough manpower to meet the expected boost in trade. Some caterers, meanwhile, said they were wary of immediately removing all Covid-measures, such as partitions, in case some customers were concerned about personal hygiene or the government made another policy U-turn.
Operators have had to spring into action after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s announcement on Wednesday to axe most pandemic control measures the following day.
The sweeping changes included dropping all social-distancing measures, the vaccine pass scheme, and mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for inbound travellers, as well as quarantine requirements for close contacts. The mask mandate, however, will stay in place.
Hong Kong’s move followed Beijing’s earlier announcement that it would scrap mandatory quarantine and reopen the country’s borders from next month, with tourist and business visas to be issued to Chinese nationals to enter the city.
