Kelvin Chan Cho-kit, secretary of the Kowloon Guesthouse Alliance, said he was not optimistic the relaxed curbs would significantly boost business.

“It is already good if our occupancy rate can return to 50 per cent compared with the level before the pandemic … We haven’t seen any surge in reservations yet,” he said.

Chan said he hoped more international events would return to Hong Kong, adding that the city remained unattractive to business travellers as many exhibitions were cancelled. Mainland Chinese travellers were deterred from visiting due to strict quarantine measures across the border, he noted.

Increased competition among hotels and guest houses was expected, he said, as quarantine hotels would return to the regular market when the new measure began.

Hong Kong to end mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from Monday

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said the industry welcomed the new measure, adding that hotel owners only learned of the arrangement through news reports on Friday.

“Scrapping the hotel quarantine requirement is definitely a leap forward. This proves that the public’s voice was heard,” he said. “But ‘0+3’ arrangement remains a halfway plan. Tourists are not likely to visit the city under such arrangements as they cannot go to restaurants and theme parks in the first three days.”

Under the current quarantine policy, visitors are restricted from entering most premises, including restaurants and bars, during the three-day medical surveillance period.

Hong Kong is finally axing hotel quarantine – here’s what you need to know

Chui said he hoped the home surveillance rule would be dropped in late October. He added he was not concerned about a potential wave of hotel closures despite the fact operators were set to lose the steady income stream provided by the quarantine rule, saying he believed the industry was just a few steps away from returning to normality.

“We have already weathered the storm in the past three years,” he said. “I believe the travel industry can successfully get through the last few steps.”

Currently, about 26,200 quarantine rooms are available in 68 locations across the city under the eighth cycle of the designated quarantine hotel scheme, which was slated to end on October 31.

But at least nine quarantine hotels had quit in the middle of the scheme, health officials said without revealing the reasons behind their decisions to leave the arrangement

Hotel sources previously told the Post that some properties had already planned not to join the next cycle, owing to a 50 per cent occupancy rate after quarantine was shortened from seven to three days in mid-August.

A Post check of hotel reservations found most still had vacancies after Monday, with only 11 having a “limited supply” of rooms available in the first week of October.

Hong Kong travellers rush to book trips after city eases quarantine curbs

Deputy Health Secretary Vincent Fung Hao-yin said visitors who arrived in Hong Kong before the new arrangements took effect at 6am on Monday still needed to take designated taxis and cars to their quarantine hotels, but they could leave the hotel on the same day in the morning “in an orderly manner”.

Fung said hotels taking part in the scheme would resume normal service from Monday and were required to refund guests who had their quarantine period cut short because of government policy changes.

“Some travellers may prefer to extend their stay in the quarantine hotel,” he said. “They can discuss the arrangements with the hotel.”