Hong Kong To Give Away 500,000 Airline Tickets To Boost The Tourism Industry In 2023

The Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Airport Authority will give 500,000 airline tickets to travellers to encourage them to visit the city. This giveaway will begin once the city lifts all travel-related Covid-19 restrictions. The tickets will include seats on Cathay Pacific, HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines flights.

The move comes after the authorities scrapped the mandatory quarantine hotel requirement for overseas arrivals, which had been in place since December 2020. Currently, all international travellers have to undergo an on-arrival PCR test followed by three days of medical surveillance if they test negative for Covid-19.

During this three-day period, they are issued an amber health code, which prohibits them from entering crowded public places such as restaurants, pubs and theme parks. They must also undergo PCR tests on Days 2, 4 and 6 after they enter the city, as well as rapid antigen tests every day for the first week after their arrival in the SAR.

Despite this new measure, there have been no significant increases in inbound travel since it came into force on September 26. According to data from the Immigration Department, the figures for departures from the airport were higher on most days than those for arrivals since the hotel quarantine requirement ended.

The most arrivals were recorded on October 4 (7,658), which is in stark contrast to February 2020, before Hong Kong imposed restrictions on the entry of overseas travellers. In fact, more passengers arrived on February 28, 2020 (11,341), which is when the least number of travellers landed at the airport that month.

While the government has not specifically said when it will remove its Covid restrictions, it recently extended pandemic regulations — which include quarantine and compulsory testing requirements — until March 31, 2023.

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