Coronavirus: limited flights and strict rules blamed for keeping foreigners away from Hong Kong
- Hotel operators say most of their summer bookings consist of residents planning to return from overseas
- Cathay Pacific set to gradually increase flights to Hong Kong, with some fares costing more than HK$11,000
Expensive airfares, limited flight options and strict quarantine rules are deterring visitors from heading to Hong Kong, despite officials announcing foreigners can travel to the city for the first time in two years from next month, business groups have said.
Hotel operators told the Post on Monday that most of their summer bookings consisted of local residents, as the travel and business sectors called for the further easing of restrictions to bring in more foreigners.
While Switzerland’s flag carrier will resume a service to Hong Kong next month and Cathay Pacific has scheduled more flights from June, other airlines have adopted a more cautious approach.
Last week, Hong Kong announced that fully vaccinated non-residents would be allowed into the city for the first time in two years, while the threshold for suspending incoming flights carrying infected passengers will be relaxed from Sunday.
Hong Kong and mainland China have adhered to a strict “dynamic-zero” strategy to combat the coronavirus, while the rest of the world has opted to reopen to international travel.
Under the relaxed rules, the threshold for imposing flight bans will be raised from three passengers found to be infected with Covid-19 upon arrival to five, or 5 per cent of those on a single flight, whichever is greater, while the length of time routes are suspended will be cut from seven days to five.