Hong Kong is to give away air tickets and vouchers to lure tourists back to the city, in order to match the numbers arriving in other popular travel destinations.
During the pandemic, the city aligned itself with China’s zero-Covid strategy and has relaxed its entry rules months slower than rivals such as Japan and Taiwan.
Despite reopening its border with China in January, tourism recovery has been slow. A recent tourism campaign, Hello Hong Kong, states that the city will offer 500,000 free air tickets to welcome tourists from around the world.
”Hong Kong is now seamlessly connected to the mainland of China and the whole international world and there will be no isolation, no quarantine,” said John Lee, CEO of Hong Kong Tourism, at a ceremony. “This is the perfect timing for tourists, business travellers and investors from near and far to come and say, ‘Hello, Hong Kong.’‘
Through the campaign, most of the plane tickets — worth two billion Hong Kong dollars — will come from three Hong Kong-based airlines through various promotional activities, including lucky draws, buy one, get one free promotions and games.
