Other ceremonies are planned after objections were raised
Hoteliers and travel industry representatives have dropped plans for an 'unmasking' day after concerns were raised about the appropriateness of a mass burning of surgical masks.
The original plans called for the destruction of one million face masks following the lifting of World Health Organisation's travel advisory on Hong Kong to demonstrate that the city had recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome, said Franz Donhauser, general manager of Island Shangri-La, who thought up the idea.
However, representatives from both the tourism and hotel industry opposed the plan.
Some of the strongest oppositions came from the Hong Kong Tourism Board, whose executives said face masks continued to be one of the ways to prevent the spread of Sars.
'We won't support this unmasking event,' said board spokeswoman Bonnie Ngan Suet-fong. 'Wearing of the face mask is a personal decision ... We are getting feedback that face masks provide peace of mind to visitors and for people in general.'
The Tourism Board and Hong Kong Hotels Association are working with the government to plan other celebration events after the WHO removes the travel advisory. Mark Lettenbichler, vice-president and area general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong and chairman of the hotels association, said it was not for the association to decide when people could remove their masks.
