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Travellers arrive at Singapore’s Changi Airport. Visitors are flocking to the quarantine-free city state. Photo: AFP

A tale of two airports: only a trickle of travellers into Hong Kong while crowds return to no-quarantine Singapore

  • Only 512 visitor arrivals at Hong Kong airport from May 1 to May 7 as travellers are still put off by strict rules
  • Compulsory hotel quarantine the main disincentive, sudden airline route bans ‘a nightmare’

British citizen Matthew* is counting down the days until he can surprise his two-year-old daughter with a visit from her grandmother in Hong Kong.

“It will be the first time they have seen each other face to face in eight months. It will be a nice moment,” said the resident, in his 30s, who moved to Hong Kong from London last September.

The family jumped at the chance to have his mother-in-law visit after Hong Kong eased its rules to allow non-resident visitors to arrive from May 1, provided they spend seven days in compulsory quarantine at a government-approved hotel, the same as returning residents.

The 65-year-old came on May 3, among the first arrivals to the city this week.

Relief for first international travellers flying into Hong Kong after entry rules eased

However, she is in the minority. There were only 512 non-resident visitor arrivals at Hong Kong International Airport from May 1 to May 7, according to official data.

Analysts pointed to the contrast at Singapore’s Changi Airport, as visitors flocked to the quarantine-free city state.

Changi achieved almost 40 per cent of its pre-Covid traffic levels, recording 1.14 million passengers in March, with arrivals 12 times higher than Hong Kong’s 94,000 that month.

In the same month, there were 121,193 international visitors to Singapore, according to the latest data from the city’s government. Hong Kong’s ban on non-residents took effect from March 2020, but was briefly lifted last year to allow travellers from select locations.

Analysts expected the gap between the two airports to widen as long as Hong Kong’s travel restrictions, such as compulsory quarantine and a mechanism to suspend flights, remained in place.

However, with signs that Hong Kong’s fifth wave of Covid-19 infections was waning, there was a net inflow of 781 people last month, the first time this year that more people arrived than left.

Hong Kong recorded just 94,000 passengers in March this year, compared to Singapore’s 1.14 million passengers. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

From May 1 to May 7, there was a net inflow of 5,550 people, as more Hong Kong residents crossed the border from mainland China. The Shenzhen Bay checkpoint logged 10,856 arrivals during the same period.

However, the surge in arrivals from the mainland was slightly offset by a net outflow of 1,105 people departing from Hong Kong via the airport over the same period.

From Monday all visitors arriving by air must take a rapid antigen test (RAT) at the airport, in addition to the usual polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Those who test negative via RAT can take dedicated transport to their quarantine hotel and wait for their PCR test result. Previously, travellers were only required to undergo a PCR test but had to wait at the airport for the result.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong is sticking with its measure to suspend air routes whenever an airline brings in travellers who test positive for Covid-19.

Business travellers to Hong Kong still put off by quarantine, risk of cancelled flights

The rule was relaxed on May 1 to impose the suspension if five or 5 per cent of the passengers on a single flight tested positive, whichever is greater. Earlier, the suspension applied if three passengers tested positive.

The length of the suspension was also reduced from seven days to five. There have been 83 flight route bans so far this year, but no airline bans are currently in effect.

The influential European Chamber of Commerce called the frequent flight route bans a “nightmare” for travellers and urged the government to scrap the measure.

“Almost daily, our members and other residents have been reporting that they are unable to find their way back to Hong Kong or see their business travel being cancelled. Many of us are giving up,” the group said in a letter to city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday.

It also asked the government to consider allowing a pre-departure RAT test in addition to the pre-departure PCR test by a certified practitioner or a clinic and to remove hotel quarantine and allow home quarantine instead.

There were around 50 daily passenger flights arriving in Hong Kong between May 1 and May 4, a tenth of the number in 2019, according to data from Ascend by Cirium, the consultancy arm of global aviation data company Cirium.

“The flight schedule shows there is no significant number of flights being added in May,” said Ascend aviation analyst Herman Tse.

Passengers arriving in Hong Kong International Airport on May 1, the first day non-residents were allowed to fly into the city from overseas. Photo: Sam Tsang

Matthew said it took some planning to get his mother-in-law to Hong Kong.

With so few direct flights from London, he booked her on a flight to Singapore, which has scrapped pre-departure PCR tests for fully vaccinated visitors in addition to not requiring quarantine.

She spent a day there and did her pre-departure PCR test before continuing to Hong Kong.

Once she is out of quarantine on Tuesday, she will need to get a temporary vaccine pass in person at a post office as she received her shots outside Hong Kong.

“If you’re not visiting family or don’t have an urgent reason to come, it’s not going to be very easy for your average everyday tourists to come here,” Matthew said.

Engineering company owner Paolo*, who has lived in Hong Kong for 15 years, decided against bringing his 74-year-old mother to visit even though she has not seen his daughters, aged five and seven, since 2020.

As his mother is Italian and does not speak English, he was worried she might not understand the numerous rules for travellers or have difficulty communicating with staff at the airport or quarantine hotel.

“It was so easy to fly to Hong Kong before, with direct flights from Italy and the ease of going through immigration, but nowadays it is too complicated,” said the 4o-year-old.

Catherine So, Asia-Pacific managing director of the Expedia travel group, said as countries opened up, international travellers choosing their destinations considered the ease of entry, absence of quarantine requirements and low levels of local Covid-19 cases.

“Most people are searching for trips up to 91+ days away, indicating that Hong Kong people are taking a wait-and-see approach, and planning to travel later, in the second half of 2022,” she said.

However, So remained hopeful of a further easing of travel and social-distancing measures in Hong Kong, saying there were “encouraging signs that the city is moving forward on its road to recovery”.

Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said the widening gap of travellers at the Hong Kong and Singapore airports would continue until Hong Kong ended its restrictions or reopened its borders.

“Once Hong Kong opens, the gap will start to narrow again and eventually Hong Kong could catch up with Singapore, but it will take time,” he said.

Albert Tjoeng, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association, said Hong Kong’s seven-day hotel quarantine remained a big disincentive to travellers.

“Hong Kong is playing catch up with her neighbours. A key step is to remove the need for travellers arriving in Hong Kong to be quarantined, starting with those who have been vaccinated,” he said.

*Name changed at interviewee’s request.

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