Govt Urged To Lift More Curbs On Inbound Travellers

Representatives from the tourism and catering sectors on Saturday urged the government to get rid of the remaining restrictions on inbound travellers to attract more visitors to Hong Kong and boost their businesses.

At present, inbound travellers are given an amber code on arrival which bans them from going to regulated premises for three days. On Friday, some spectators were turned away from the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens after displaying an amber code at the venue.

President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants, Simon Wong, said most tourists wouldn’t want to come to Hong Kong with these restrictions.

“It causes a lot of inconvenience to tourists. When they come to Hong Kong, for the first three days, they are not allowed to go to restaurants or some areas indicated by the government. In this case, I don’t see there’s any urge for the tourists to come to Hong Kong with such restrictions,” he said.

Tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu echoed Wong’s views, calling the amber code system "slightly out-of-date".

“I think it's not that reasonable that people can't get into museums with an amber code. They can enter offices and schools with amber codes, and they have to find a place to eat during work or school with amber codes - and they have to take off their masks,” he said.

“But we don't have to take off masks when we're visiting museums. The tourist guides will also remind them to follow Covid restrictions. I don't believe these activities are high risk.”