Hong Kong vows to win back tourists with global campaign as officials admit to long road ahead following easing of city’s Covid entry rules
- Tourism Board says it will work alongside local businesses on ‘Hello! Hong Kong’ campaign to offer a range of perks for travellers
- Travel firms from Southeast Asia welcomed to city as part of efforts to win back tourists, with board stressing region is a large market for local industry
Hong Kong will launch a global campaign to lure back tourism following the lifting of the city’s strict entry regime for recent arrivals, even as officials admitted the reboot would take time and overseas tour operators remained sceptical that the eased rules were attractive enough.
The Tourism Board on Wednesday said it was working alongside local businesses on a “Hello! Hong Kong” campaign that would offer a range of perks for tourists, including free “welcome drinks” for visitors dining out at more than 100 restaurants and bars across the city.
It added that officials were also seeking to organise more mega events, such as a Lunar New Year parade, which was last held in 2019 before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The board revealed the move on Wednesday, a day after city leader John Lee Ka-chiu announced the biggest easing of coronavirus restrictions since the pandemic began, with arrivals from overseas given free citywide movement and no longer required to use the government’s “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app to access public places.
But arrivals will still need to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at the airport and on their third day in the city, as well as conducting rapid antigen screenings for five days. Anyone who tests positive will be required to undergo isolation.
Dane Cheng Ting-yat, the board’s executive director, said the return of tourists to Hong Kong was “going to take a bit of time”, with other factors, such as airline capacity and ticket prices, having an effect too.
