Hong Kong woos tourists with air tickets and vouchers
Hong Kong –
Hong Kong will give away air tickets and vouchers to woo vacationers again to the worldwide monetary hub, racing to meet up with different fashionable journey locations in a fierce regional competitors.
During the pandemic, town largely aligned itself with mainland China’s “zero-COVID” technique and has relaxed its entry guidelines months slower than rivals akin to Singapore, Japan and Taiwan. Even after it reopened its border with mainland China in January, tourism restoration was sluggish.
On Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee launched a tourism marketing campaign “Hello Hong Kong,” saying town will supply 500,000 free air tickets to welcome vacationers from around the globe in what he known as “probably the world’s biggest welcome ever”.
“Hong Kong is now seamlessly connected to the mainland of China and the whole international world and there will be no isolation, no quarantine,” he mentioned 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.”‘
Under the marketing campaign, a lot of the airplane tickets — price 2 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($255 million) — will come from three Hong Kong-based airways via varied promotional actions, together with fortunate attracts, “buy one, get one free” promotions and video games. The undertaking will start in March and final about six months, mentioned Fred Lam, CEO of the Airport Authority.
“We hope those who secure the air tickets can bring two or three more relatives and friends to the city. Although we are just giving away 500,000 air tickets, we believe this can help bring Hong Kong over 1.5 million visitors,” Lam mentioned.
The airways will distribute the tickets in phases, with the Southeast Asian markets set to profit within the first stage, he mentioned.
An further 80,000 air tickets can be given away to Hong Kong residents in the summertime, Lam mentioned. Those residing within the Greater Bay Area can even profit from the coverage that gives over 700,000 tickets in whole. The Greater Bay Area is a Chinese authorities initiative to hyperlink Hong Kong with neighbouring mainland cities, together with the know-how and finance hub of Shenzhen and the manufacturing powerhouses of Dongguan and Foshan.
Visitors may also get pleasure from particular gives and vouchers amongst different incentives within the metropolis, Lee mentioned.
Hong Kong obtained 56 million guests in 2019 — over seven instances its inhabitants — earlier than the pandemic started. But its strict COVID-19 restrictions have been preserving guests away over the previous three years, devastating the tourism sector and its economic system. The metropolis’s GDP final yr fell 3.5 % from 2021, in response to the federal government’s provisional information.
In the previous few months, it lastly dropped its necessary resort quarantine rule and PCR exams for incoming travellers, leading to a slight enhance in arrival figures. Still, its 2022 customer numbers had been simply 1% of the 2019 degree.
