'Expect More Christmas Tourists With Amber Code Gone'

The end of a three-day ban on incoming travellers going to venues such as restaurants and bars will bring in more tourists over the upcoming holiday season, a professor of tourism economics said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Chief Executive John Lee announced that incoming travellers will no longer be given an amber health code barring them from entering premises that require checks of Covid vaccination records.

"This certainly will benefit the businesses and tourists travelling to Hong Kong," said Haiyan Song, Associate Dean of Polytechnic University's school of hotel and tourism management.

He explained that many international travellers had reservations about coming to Hong Kong because of the three days of restrictions.

"Although the time probably is too close to Christmas, I think still, we can attract a certain amount of people visiting Hong Kong during the Christmas period," he added.

Song said he expects "significant demand" from tourists and that some sectors may not be able to capitalise on the surge.

"It needs some time to recruit employees for these sectors, which include hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and maybe other sectors that cater to international tourists," he said.

The Executive Director of the Travel Industry Council, Fanny Yeung, agreed that the new measures will attract more visitors over the Christmas holidays.

However, Yeung said business is unlikely to go back to pre-pandemic levels unless there's full resumption of travel with the mainland.

"Without the opening of the boundaries with mainland, it is still far away from our pre-pandemic situation. So definitely it's nothing to compare with other places," she said.

Yeung said more Covid curbs should be relaxed in order to revive the tourism industry, such as reducing the number of PCR tests inbound tourists have to take.

"For visitors, I think it's difficult for them to arrange the PCR test, and to reserve a time slot. There may be some challenges finding a place and a time. For a group tour, it's even worse, because after all you have to make arrangement for transportation.

"If we have gradual relaxation, I think the numbers [of tourists] should gradually increase," she said.

A restaurant group acknowledged that the sector is facing a labour crunch.

"Covid has changed work habits, I think people are much more concerned with their here and now than the long-term and I think operators including us need to look at the employment basis that we offer to jobseekers," said Steen Puggaard, the CEO of the Pirata Group.

The company, which owns 27 restaurants in Hong Kong, said the relaxation symbolises Hong Kong is another step closer to being "over and done" with the pandemic.

"That would benefit all operators in F&B, hospitality, retail across Hong Kong, I think that's extremely positive," said Puggaard.

But he also said the vaccine pass will remain a "small barrier" for the catering sector.

An economist, meanwhile, said the easing of measures such as the need to use the LeaveHomeSafe app, will boost sentiment more than stimulate the economy.

"The relaxation is a step in the right direction," said Kelvin Lau, Standard Chartered's senior economist for Greater China.

But he noted that there are still other Covid measures in place and said it will take further easing to spur the local economy, which saw a 4.5 percent year-on-year contraction in the third quarter.

"It removes hurdles, but it doesn't make Hong Kong sort of head and shoulders above other destinations," explained Lau.

"What is still lacking is the fact that there are still a lot of restrictions on the other mobility stuff, and also the absence of the free flow across the border with the mainland could still be a hesitation for inbound visitors that would want to plan their trips for the whole region."