Hong Kong To Lure Travelers Back With 500K Free Air Tickets

After some of the strictest regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hong Kong first dropped mandatory hotel quarantine. Now, in an effort to attract travelers, 500,000 free air tickets will soon be up for grabs.

Hong Kong offers 500K free air tickets

Prior to the pandemic, Hong Kong attracted some 56 million visitors each year. However, now, after more than two years of the toughest regulations, tourism officials are keen to win travelers back.

In fact, just days after Hong Kong dropped the longstanding mandatory hotel quarantine, a special deal was announced. A spokesperson for the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK)  has said that 500,000 air tickets, worth some $254.8 million, will be on offer to international travelers, as well as residents.

According to the spokesperson, in 2020, AAHK purchased some 500,000 air tickets in advance. These were bought from the territory’s home-based airlines as part of a relief package to support the aviation industry. They added:

The purchase serves the purpose of injecting liquidity into the airlines upfront, while the tickets will be given away to global visitors and Hong Kong residents in the market recovery campaign.

Moreover, the spokesperson said further details will be announced once the arrangements had been made with the airlines.

Tough COVID-19 restrictions in Hong Kong

During more than two years of the pandemic, Hong Kong was largely cut off from the rest of the world. This was mainly due to its tough quarantine rules, which at one stage, required incoming visitors to spend 21 days in a hotel room at their own expense. Naturally, a three-week stay in a hotel room wasn’t a popular option. Meanwhile, only local residents were permitted normal entry.

Before the quarantine was officially scrapped on September 26, it had been reduced from seven to three days, which led to many residents heading to airline websites to book flights.

At one point, Cathay Pacific, the territory’s flag carrier, set up a virtual “waiting room” to access its website. Meanwhile, Expedia experienced a nine-fold surge in searches for flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo. Moreover, it experienced an 11-fold surge in flights from Hong Kong to Osaka. However, according to Expedia’s head of public relations, Lavinia Rajaram, interest in flights into the territory largely remained unchanged.

Obviously, the territory now needs to boost its lagging tourism sector. CNN quotes the territory’s Chief Executive John Lee as saying in a press conference on Friday:

We hope to give the maximum room to reconnect Hong Kong, and to revitalize our economy.

COVID-19 restrictions

While the mandatory quarantine has been lifted visitors to the city still face various hurdles before and after arrival.

All international visitors are required to submit pre-flight vaccination certificates, along with a negative PCR test and rapid antigen test prior to entry. Once permitted to enter the territory, travelers are required to undergo a three-day self-monitoring period. During that time, they are prohibited from visiting bars or restaurants.

Moreover, international travelers must undergo PCR tests on days 2, 4 and 6 after arrival in Hong Kong. On top of this, they must undergo a rapid antigen test every day for seven days.

While quarantine may have been dropped, the hassle of the self-monitoring and many COVID-19 tests is daunting to international travelers. Hopefully, those 500,000 air tickets will tempt more people to visit Hong Kong.