In an effort to increase visitor numbers to Hong Kong, tourists will receive free airfares to the city. This is in response to declining tourist numbers which has fallen to tens to millions per year since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the initiative, 500,000 plane tickets worth £225million will be given away to encourage travellers to visit once the authorities remove all coronavirus restrictions.
This global campaign is scheduled to begin early next year.
Advertising for the scheme will be managed by the Hong Kong tourism board, while the airport authority will provide the complimentary tickets.
Prior to the pandemic in 2019, Hong Kong saw 56 million tourists. However, only 184,000 visited the city within the first 8 months of 2019.
In the initiative, 500,000 plane tickets worth £225million will be given away to encourage travellers to visit once the authorities remove all coronavirus restrictions
“The airport authority put aside HK$2billion to purchase about 500,000 tickets at several local airlines in 2020 to promote the city’s tourism industry once it eased,” Dane Cheng said, Hong Kong tourism board executive director.
Tourism bosses stated that the scheme would target short-haul tourists from Asia.
The pandemic was over, but in 2019 Hong Kong saw 56 million tourists. Only 184,000 visited the city during the first eight months.
It was one of the hardest-restricted places in the entire world until recently.
The latest changes in isolation regulations were made last month. This means that all travellers will need to keep an eye on their health for any signs and symptoms for three days.
Tourism boss in Hong Kong said that the scheme would target short-haul visitors to Asia. Photo: Hong Kong International Airport for Travellers
According to the city government, people will no longer need to be in hotel quarantine before they board flights to Hong Kong.
After the announcement, many people rushed to purchase flights to Hong Kong.
The promotion of this new deal directed at China is limited until the entry restrictions are relaxed.
According to Euromonitor’s senior analyst Prudence Lei, the market’s most important source of tourists is China.
British airline Virgin Atlantic’s withdrawal from Hong Kong officially ends the company’s 30-year presence in the city and reneges on earlier plans to resume flights from March 2023
Meanwhile, British airline Virgin Atlantic announced on Wednesday that it will scrap its Heathrow-Hong Kong services and close its Hong Kong office.
Virgin has officially withdrawn from the city after a 30-year period. It also abandoned earlier plans for flights to return in March 2023.
Virgin Atlantic, which had stopped flights from Hong Kong in December 2017, is just one of many airlines not to fly through Russia’s aviation space following the invasion by Ukraine.