Although the world seems to be recovering from the one huge anomaly that was 2020, some businesses or even countries have not been the same since. One of the industries that suffered greatly from the pandemic is tourism. Especially the Asia – Pacific countries’ businesses have been severely impacted by the restrictions that came in action during the pandemic since most of their income depends on tourists.
The measures taken to attract tourists to major travel destinations differ from country to country even city to city, however, just two weeks ago Hong Kong government announced probably the most extreme (and exciting) course of action we have seen – they are giving away half a million airline tickets to international and local travellers to ‘rehabilitate’ the city’s tourism.
So far it is not clear when exactly the giveaway will take place and what the requirements for participating in the scheme will be, but it is expected to be announced in early 2023. Another necessity for this campaign is for all the travelling restrictions to be lifted. Hong Kong authorities have just lifted the mandatory hotel quarantine earlier in September, therefore there’s still a long way to go before all restrictions (tests, vaccines, quarantine) are revoked.
The local Airport Authority had set aside over 2 billion pounds to purchase the tickets
It is likely that government will give out the tickets purchased from local airlines, therefore you might need to fly somewhere closer to get the hold of the free ticket but it is a great opportunity nonetheless.
As reported by media agencies, the local Airport Authority had set aside over 2 billion pounds to purchase the tickets to prepare for the potential situation as early as in 2020.
According to BBC, Hong Kong had only 184,000 visitors this year. That is a major drop in numbers compared to, for example, 2019 when 56 million people visited the city.
Hong Kong as a city is a mixture of ancient and modern culture with towering skyscrapers that overlook temples and shopping markets that provide you with local goods as well as lush nature inside the city.
