HONG KONG, CHINA. In a critical spur for the aviation, tourism and travel retail sectors, Hong Kong is scrapping its ‘0+3’ COVID regime effective from today, according to a just published report in the South China Morning Post.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the new measures before his weekly meeting with the Executive Council.
Although previous restrictions have been much eased in recent months, the barring of all travellers – residents and visitors – from restaurants and bars in the three days post their arrival (a period during which an amber code showed on their LeaveHomeSafe app) was seen as a major discouragement to tourism.
“With the move, Hong Kong is effectively adopting the 0+0 regime, and all incoming travellers who test negative will be given a blue code on their health app and can move about the city freely,” the South China Morning Post report said.
Collinson Asia Pacific President Todd Handcock summed up the feeling of many travel sector stakeholders when he said, “As we steadily approach the end of the year and look towards 2023, today’s news is the Christmas gift that many in Hong Kong have been eagerly awaiting. The Covid restrictions in Hong Kong have impacted the travel industry and have also resulted in numerous hurdles for travellers looking for a relaxing holiday with friends and family.
“While travel in Asia has picked up pace this year (particularly in markets like India), its recovery at the regional level is still behind the rest of the world. We have seen this with our Priority Pass programme, where global airport lounge visit volumes are at 85% pre-pandemic levels (as of November 2022) [1] – largely driven by travellers redeeming experiences in locations with reduced restrictions, such as Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States.
“In Asia Pacific, we are yet to match the travel recovery of Europe and The Americas (APAC airport lounge visit volumes are at 67% pre-pandemic levels as of November 20221); but with the recent easing of restrictions in China, and with Hong Kong reopening steadily, we hope to see a positive recovery in the New Year.”
[1] These statistics compares airport lounge visits made in November 2019 and November 2022. Statistics are updated as of November 2022.
