Coronavirus: EU backs the lifting of Covid-19 travel curbs on Hong Kong, paving way for city residents to enjoy European leisure, business trips
- Brussels recommends that member states open up to vaccinated tourists, business travellers arriving from Hong Kong, Macau
- EU officials issue the advisory ruling without requiring the two cities to reciprocate by dropping strict quarantine requirements for those heading in other direction
The EU Office to Hong Kong and Macau described the move as a “very positive step” towards allowing residents there to travel to Europe for reasons other than essential trips.
However, Brussels’ advisory ruling for member states does not set any conditions of reciprocation, leaving EU travellers continuing to face strict quarantine and testing requirements in those cities.
Thomas Gnocchi, head of the EU office covering Hong Kong and Macau, said Brussels would continue to seek eased travel arrangements for EU travellers.
“We will continue to discuss with the authorities, following significant improvements of the Covid-19 situation in the EU, measures to ease conditions for travellers from Europe, including children,” he said.
“This would support the resumption of people-to-people contacts and business ties. Vaccines continue to be one of the necessary steps to put an end to this pandemic.”
On Friday, Hong Kong confirmed three new Covid-19 cases, all imported, bringing the city’s total infection tally to 11,884, with 210 related deaths.
Hong Kong tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the recommendation reflected the EU’s eagerness to reboot its economy, but suggested the impact on the city’s struggling travel industry would be minimal.
“Just like Thailand and Singapore, the EU has tried to relax travel restrictions, but I think Hong Kong authorities will be very cautious about lowering our guard,” the lawmaker said.
“The EU’s relaxation would be good for family or business visits, but would not be much of an incentive for leisure travellers because you still need to quarantine for two to three weeks when you come back.”
The recommendation was made by the Council of Ministers in Brussels, a day after the Post reported the EU was looking at easing the curbs. Currently, only essential travel from Hong Kong to the bloc is allowed.
It is up to member states to decide whether to follow the recommendation.
Governments doing so – which do not impose testing and quarantine requirements on their own inoculated citizens – should in principle waive such restrictions when a traveller from Hong Kong arrives with proof of being vaccinated with a Covid-19 jab that has been approved by the European Medicines Agency.
The four Covid-19 jabs so far approved by the EMA are the ones developed by AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Hong Kong offers the BioNTech jab, and the Chinese-made one from Sinovac.
At present, Hong Kong considers some EU members – such as Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy – high-risk destinations, which means unvaccinated travellers from those places have to undergo 21 days of quarantine, while those immunised still have to spend two weeks in confinement.
