‘We are dying’: Hong Kong tourism industry pleads with government to restart travel, with Shenzhen trips first on list
- Target set for non-essential travel to restart with Hong Kong’s neighbours across mainland border
- Discounts and other offers in pipeline for tourism’s return when Covid-19 pandemic subsides
Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat said its aim was for travel in both directions to resume first with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen, before restoring links with Guangzhou and further expanding into the Greater Bay Area, an economic zone comprising Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province.
To encourage spending and travelling, the board is also putting together offers, including a Hong Kong Airport Authority giveaway of 500,000 flight tickets, through a planned online platform called Open House Hong Kong. A relaunched Hello Hong Kong programme would further offer 10,000 discounted local tours once the coronavirus restrictions were relaxed, he said.
“We will be ready to roll out these offers when social-distancing rules have eased,” he said and referred to the Hello Hong Kong offers. “We need to be very vigilant over containing the coronavirus and can’t rush into reopening the border.”
For months, the Hong Kong government has been in talks with mainland authorities over forming a travel bubble to bring back non-essential border crossings. It would involve mutually recognised health code systems to show travellers’ health status, contacts with Covid-19 patients and travel history. But discussions stalled when the third wave of the coronavirus broke out in July.