Coronavirus: more bad news for Hong Kong’s battered tourism sector, with August arrivals down nearly 80 per cent from July
- The August arrival figures represent a 99.9 per cent year-on-year drop
- Arrivals from the mainland were also down some 60 per cent from the month before
Hong Kong tourism declined further in August, with some 78 per cent fewer visitors than the previous month, even as the city’s officials discussed forming travel bubbles with 11 destinations and local coronavirus infections continued to fall.
Provisional figures from the city’s tourism board, which were released on Tuesday, showed that fewer than 4,500 people visited last month, a 99.9 per cent year-on-year slump, and a 78 per cent drop from the nearly 20,600 people who visited in July.
Tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the dismal figures were to be expected, as Hong Kong had tightened its travel rules amid the third wave of infections in July.
“Most of the visitors are coming to Hong Kong for business or family matters; leisure tourists won’t come to Hong Kong just to be quarantined for 14 days,” Yiu said.
He also said that resuming travel between Hong Kong and mainland China should be a top priority, as cross-border traffic could also boost other sectors, such as hospitality, retail and catering.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah revealed last Tuesday that the government had started talks with 11 countries to open up so-called travel bubbles. He added more substantive discussions between local health experts and their counterparts in Japan and Thailand, two of the most popular holiday destinations for the city’s residents, were already under way.
Yau said that to make travel bubbles possible, coronavirus tests before departure and upon arrival might be required, while officials still needed to discuss whether negative results at both ends would allow travellers to skip quarantine.