Hong Kong offers air tickets and vouchers to international travellers

To revive the tourism industry after 3 years of closing the border against the Covid-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong government spent about 2 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 255 million US dollars) to buy air tickets and free delivery to international visitors along with a HK$100 shopping voucher.

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Furthermore, more than 2,000 retailers in the city will also respond to the return visitor campaign by giving away 2.5 million gifts worth a total of HK$100 million.

Hong Kong offers air tickets and vouchers to international travellers

Hong Kong welcomed 55.91 million international visitors in 2019, with about 80% of them coming from mainland China, according to official data. Taiwan accounted for the largest share of the rest with 1.53 million visitors, followed by the US, Japan and South Korea.

But the number of visitors dropped last year as the city implemented strict restrictive measures to limit the spread of Covid-19, including quarantining visitors at hotels for up to three weeks and requesting multiple negative tests for Covid-19. The number of international travellers to Hong Kong is only about 600,000 people in 2022, down about 99% compared to 2019.

Hong Kong only lifted these restrictions on February 6, and the slow recovery of tourism. According to Bank of America, visitors accounted for about 30-40% of Hong Kong's retail sales between 2010-2019. The city has also hosted many investment events and business conferences, helping to keep demand for hotel reservations at a high level.

But in 2022, Hong Kong drops to 36th place in market research firm Euromonitor's Global 100 Cities Index, behind Singapore at 15th and Tokyo at 20th place. This index is based on factors such as infrastructure, tourism policy and attractiveness of each city.

Put on alert due to its deteriorating position, this month the Hong Kong government launched a HK$2 billion campaign called "Hello Hong Kong" to attract travellers back. Starting in early March, the campaign will give away 500,000 air tickets to international travellers who want to visit Hong Kong, plus HK$100 worth of food and shopping vouchers.

Hong Kong offers air tickets and vouchers to international travellers

The free planes will be distributed in phases and will last for 6 months, starting with the Southeast Asian markets, followed by Mainland China and North Asia, and finally other regions of the world. Air tickets will be distributed through Hong Kong's three airlines including Cathay Pacific, HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines.

Hong Kong businesses are also preparing their own incentive programs in response to the Hello Hong Kong campaign. More than 2,000 retailers will offer around 2.5 million gifts worth a total of HK$100 million to international visitors, according to the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.

However, how quickly Hong Kong's tourism industry will recover is still an open question. Audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forecasts 20 million travellers will visit Hong Kong this year, just over a third of the 2019 record high, PwC noted that the city has lost a number of attractions as a shopping destination for luxury brands.

In addition to the short-term tourist attraction campaign, Hong Kong faces a longer-term challenge of spreading information about new travel destinations to international visitors. While the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, once a popular tourist attraction of Hong Kong, has disappeared, attractions such as the M+ Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hong Kong Palace Museum are new and unknown to many.