Hong Kong will give away 500,000 flights to tourists

The pandemic has conditioned for a long time the tourism, entire countries have practically closed the borders for more than 2 years, effectively blocking one of the sectors hardest hit by the crisis.

In China in the past few months we have seen unlikely scenes, people segregate home by the government to succeed in containing Covid cases, tolerance zero and weekly screenings to entire cities. Facts that have triggered controversy and protests, both from citizens and foreign residents.

The special province of Hong Kong, going against the tide, decided in late September to delete mandatory hotel quarantine for tourists and turn it into medical checkups.

Beware, however, there continue to remain some requirements to be able to enter the country, one of them being completely vaccinated. Then make a test PCR both on departure and arrival and further testing at two, four and six days after arrival, in addition to 3 days of medical surveillance upon arrival during which you cannot enter bars, restaurants, theaters, etc.

Although taking a vacation to Hong Kong is not a hit-and-run activity because of all the implications mentioned above, it seems that another step toward the right direction, especially for speed up The return of tourists to the region.

In fact, the Hong Kong government has decided to Give away as many as 500,000 airline tickets to tourists who would like to visit the region, however, once all restrictions are revoked, so as to revitalize the tourism sector without forcing visitors into tedious testing or surveillance medical.

In 2019, it is estimated that Hong Kong was visited by as many as 56 million of tourists, pumping huge amounts of capitals in the country's economy. In the first 8 months of 2022, on the other hand, visitors were only 184.000, practically none compared to pre-pandemic data.

The Hong Kong government had bought these tickets in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, mainly to support Cathay Pacific and other local companies that were in danger of going out of business. The plan is to give these tickets away to future tourists.

The fact that you have to stay under medical supervision for 3 days and do not frequent bars, restaurants or crowded places for these days certainly does not incentivize tourism... Of course, if the government mentions this initiative, it means that it is seriously thinking about delete even the latest restrictions.

The "zero tolerance" approach has been suppressed in favor of restrictions that are more read, but if all goes as it should it will be possible to see the light by the end of the year.