Hong Kong bars, restaurants and tour operators expecting muted first weekend under complicated new ‘vaccine bubble’ rules
- Restaurants, entertainment venues and tour operators say they expect to miss out on the potential windfall presented by the loosening of social-distancing rules under the scheme
- ‘We are allegedly allowed to resume business, but actually we can’t operate normally given such conditions,’ one party room owner says
Some party rooms reported having zero bookings, and most approved travel agencies were unable to launch local tours, while many restaurants failed to meet the requirements set out by the government for operating beyond the limits imposed on operating hours and capacity under the previous set of rules.
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“Customers chose not to come once they were told they had to get vaccinated first. Perhaps in one group, just one of them had received a shot, but their friends did not, so they can’t come,” said Cyber Yin, who co-owns the party room chain Party Fun.
“I still have no bookings for Saturday.”
Under the vaccine bubble scheme, which launched on Thursday, party rooms, nightclubs, karaoke lounges, bathhouses and bars that do not have restaurant licences were allowed to finally reopen after months of closures.
As of Friday night, just 916,262 people, or 12.2 per cent of the city’s population, had received their first shot. Of those, 497,360 – or 6.6 per cent of the population – had also received their second dose.
Yin, who runs 10 party rooms in the city, said his businesses mainly catered to young people, most of whom still had not received a shot. The city’s vaccination bookings were only opened to those aged between 16 and 29 about a week ago.
“We are allegedly allowed to resume business, but actually we can’t operate normally given such conditions,” Yin said.
While the vaccination rule for local tours only applies to workers and not participants, a check by the Post found that 22 of the 29 agencies registered with the Travel Industry Council to offer such services could not relaunch at all this weekend.
The remaining seven either could not be reached by phone or said they were still making plans.
Multiple firms said they did not have sufficient notice to secure enough customers or arrange staffing, especially in light of the requirement for drivers and tour guides to have had at least one dose of vaccine.
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“Since the protests hit Hong Kong in 2019, many tour guides have switched jobs,” said Roy Wong, the manager of Man Wa Travel Service, pointing out that tourism had taken a hit long before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. “It’s hard to call them back.”
The restaurant sector did not fare much better under its complicated tier system.
Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said most eateries had decided to stick with the status quo – ending dine-in service at 10pm and capping groups at four to a table – rather than try to take advantage of new rules requiring separate zones for patrons who met extra government conditions.
With many workers still unvaccinated, Wong estimated only 20 to 30 per cent of the city’s restaurants could implement the new rules, which would allow them to offer dine-in service until midnight with up to six people at a table.
“The vaccine bubble can bring a business boost for this weekend, but I believe the increase in the city’s overall restaurant revenue will be up just 10 per cent roughly. It won’t bring a big jump,” he said.
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So far, Wong said he had not heard of any premises able to meet the requirements for operating under the most relaxed set of rules, which would allow eateries to offer dine-in service until 2am with up to eight people to a table. For that to happen, a restaurant’s staff must all be fully vaccinated, having received their second shot at least 14 days ago, and all customers must have received at least their first dose.
Edwin Kam, general manager of a chain of five Shanghainese restaurants with around 170 employees, did not expect he would be able to resume his operations at a larger scale even in time for Mothers’ Day next weekend, usually a peak business day in the trade.
“I definitely won’t have enough time to prepare for this,” he said, noting some of his staff still had not received a jab.
“We won’t force people to get vaccinated. So I don’t have high hopes we can do it, unless the government decides to relax the conditions.”
At K11 Art Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, Esther Leung, an administrator in her 40s, said the “vaccine bubble” did not incentivise her to get inoculated.
“I will go to restaurants where I want to eat, my decision is not based on whether the place has set up different zones,” she said, referring to the areas with various operational limits restaurants can set up under the vaccine bubble.
“The reopening of bars and karaoke lounges provides no motivation for me, because I’m worried about the side effects.”
Another diner, 23-year-old student Michael Chan, said he had got used to the social-distancing rules and had no plans to get vaccinated.
“The restaurant zones are too complicated and many eateries have limited space, so it would be difficult to implement,” he said.
