Outside InWith Hong Kong’s future as Asia’s leading business hub at stake, where’s the Covid-19 rescue plan?
- The travel and tourism sector is bleeding worldwide, but as a home for global business, Hong Kong has been hit especially hard
- Given the gravity of the challenges, it is counterproductive for our government to persist with its hermit-economy zero-Covid strategy
Aviation worldwide has been catastrophically wounded by Covid-19, but few communities have been harmed as severely as Hong Kong. Its future as “Asia’s world city”, home to thousands of corporate headquarters and the high-value-adding professions that they drive, hangs in the balance.
Meanwhile, our politicians and leaders are engaging in preposterous blame games over the forlorn Canute-like aim of keeping our borders slammed shut against Covid-19, instead of focusing on the two critical priorities – the drive towards comprehensive vaccination, and towards international agreement and cooperation on protocols enabling resumption of safe travel.
Similar blame games are being engaged elsewhere, but the implications in Hong Kong are grave.
Let’s not underestimate the scale of the global horror story. The World Travel and Tourism Council, in its latest Trending in Travel report, estimates that 62 million jobs have been lost worldwide, and tourism-related earnings amounting to US$4.5 trillion have been lost.
According to its economic impact reports, countries like Singapore and Thailand have seen visitor spending drop by around 75 per cent, but few economies come near to Hong Kong, where the international visitor spending is down 92.5 per cent, from HK$278.6 billion (US$35.9 billion) in 2019 to just HK$21 billion in 2020, with an estimated 90,100 jobs lost.