Coronavirus: departed companies not looking back, Hong Kong business chamber warns, urging lower threshold for talent scheme
- Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce CEO George Leung says even if travel curbs fully eased, results and recovery will only come in first quarter of next year
- Survey by chamber shows about 30 per cent of large firms are considering leaving or have already departed, 10 per cent have left for good
Companies that have left Hong Kong may not return soon even if all coronavirus travel curbs are scrapped, one of the city’s biggest business chambers has warned after a survey it conducted revealed 10 per cent of responding firms have permanently relocated.
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce CEO George Leung Siu-kay on Sunday urged the government to promptly lift all Covid-19 entry restrictions and called for lowering thresholds for talent schemes to avoid further losing out to Singapore.
“Once [companies] have relocated, they may not return in the short term because relocation involves arrangements such as office leases, staff recruitment, which cannot be reversed in a short period of time,” Leung told a radio programme.
“Hong Kong has to put effort into attracting these corporations as soon as possible and allow favourable conditions for a return to normalcy.”
In the long term, firms were less likely to move back to the city if they had relocated their Asia-Pacific headquarters to Singapore, which offered many of the same advantages as Hong Kong, while companies focused on the Greater China market might return, he added.