Overseas entry restrictions on arrivals from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China will affect both outbound and inbound travel, which will hurt the city’s tourism recovery, industry leaders have said. They warned that the decision to require arrivals to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in advance would also have an effect on travellers from nearly 10 countries heading home from the three locations. This put Hong Kong in an unfavourable position, especially when competition for tourists had heated up, they added. “In the face of unfriendly measures against northern Asia from the US and some European countries, the light at the end of the tunnel will probably come from tourists from Southeast Asian countries in the short term,” a source close to the government said. “It will also take at least a couple of weeks before we see a meaningful flow of leisure and business visitors from the mainland because of the time required by the central government to process visas.” Hong Kong to launch ‘big’ promotion to lure visitors, city leader says The latest example was Seoul’s decision to confine flights from Hong Kong and Macau to the airport in the capital. In a tit-for-tat retaliation, Beijing on Tuesday suspended the issuance of some visas for South Korean and Japanese visitors after Seoul stopped giving short-term entry permits to Chinese travellers until at least January 31. The United States has required arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to undergo Covid-19 tests since January 5 and warned its citizens to reconsider going to the country. Australia and India also require Chinese travellers to take tests before visiting. Hong Kong, the mainland and Macau became the last few places in the world to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions. On Sunday, Hong Kong and the mainland restored quarantine-free cross-border travel. In 2019, mainlanders accounted for the majority of the 55.9 million tourists who arrived in the city. On the same day, the mainland reopened to foreign travellers for the first time in three years. Tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said he hoped countries that required arrivals to undergo tests would drop the rule, which he deemed political. “I hope we can all follow a scientific-based approach to handle Covid-19 and not involve politics in the pandemic. For tourism, we don’t talk about politics and we hope things can be more normal for passengers so they enjoy their trips better,” he said. Freddy Yip Hing-ning, president of the Hong Kong Travel Agent Owners Association, said the additional rules would cause inconvenience for those travelling in and out of the city. He said he believed the move would discourage people from coming to Hong Kong because they would have to worry about getting PCR tests before returning to their hometowns or visiting other countries. Major Hong Kong business group predicts 2023 turnaround, 3.8 per cent growth He added travellers would be more inclined to choose other popular destinations such as Thailand, which did not have any restrictions. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the city would revive tourism by launching a so-called big promotion exercise in February when more visitors and business travellers were expected to return to the city after the three-year hiatus. The city is expected to reveal on Thursday details of a much-awaited “Hello! Hong Kong” campaign that would offer a range of perks for tourists, including free “welcome drinks” for visitors dining out at more than 100 restaurants and bars across the city. The Hong Kong Tourism Board’s campaign will also include handing out 500,000 air tickets worth HK$2 billion (US$254 million), which the Airport Authority budgeted three years ago, to bring travellers back to the city. Yiu said he was hopeful that more tourists would eventually return to Hong Kong from February, urging the government to promote more attractions such as the M+ and Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District. Bulk of travel over Hong Kong-mainland China border since reopening is going north Hong Kong saw the completion of a number of new attractions during the past three years. Other than the museums, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort revamped its castle, Peak Tramways upgraded facilities and the Ngong Ping 360 introduced its first fully transparent cable cars in 2022. Macau on Tuesday announced a string of offers to lure Hongkongers to the city. Residents who buy a ticket for a ferry or bus to the gambling hub can make the return journey for free from Friday until March 31, although same-day trips do not qualify. Other countries such as Malaysia are also launching promotional campaigns to attract Hongkongers. “We in Malaysia are free, you don’t need to go through vaccines [or] tests,” said Dato’ Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, director general of the government’s Tourism Malaysia. “Even masks are not usual for us in Malaysia.”