Letters | Gay Games delay tells the world Hong Kong is closed for business
- Readers discuss the damage done by Hong Kong’s 21-day quarantine, a better way to raise the vaccination rate, a Mid-Autumn boost to the economy, and Hong Kong’s big advantage over New Zealand and the UK
Whilst this event might be of scant importance to her or her government, the delay reflects an international perception that Hong Kong is closed for business. This government, with no end plan in sight, has allowed an event scheduled over a year away to fall victim to a policy that serves no one other than government ministers who are immune to the pressure from it.
Has our chief executive, who surely would ask of Hongkongers nothing she would not be prepared to do herself, spent a single day in quarantine? The financial loss to the city caused by the Gay Games delay is part of an enormous financial loss Hong Kong will endure as a result of having a government leader who seems to have a deficient understanding of business.
This ignorance allows her to falsely believe Hong Kong’s economy is sustainable and can be driven by domestic consumption; it cannot.
Hong Kong needs an exit strategy. We need to know that our government is leading us towards the resumption of international trade and travel.
It is one thing to have BBQ pits closed, it is quite another to have the city closed because of an impractical belief that Covid-19 can be eradicated. Vaccination was meant to be the key to freedom, Hongkongers have heeded this and we want the doors of our city open and the draconian quarantine measures removed.