'Many More Hotel Rooms Needed For Quarantine'

The lawmaker representing the tourism sector said on Friday that the use of hotels for quarantining inbound travellers will be better later than never, but the 10,000 rooms arranged by the government are "definitely not enough".

Yiu Si-wing said people who fly into Hong Kong will be asked to stay at a designated hotel of their choice for two weeks starting from December 22, as part of stepped-up restrictions by the government to try to prevent imported coronavirus cases during the upcoming Christmas holiday.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, Yiu said the government would announce the list of hotels on Friday.

He said the rates charged will vary from around HK$400 per night, including three meals, up to around HK$3,000 a night at a five-star hotel.

However, he said the 10,000 or so hotel rooms arranged for quarantine purposes would be used up in 10 days as there are some 1,000 arrivals in the city daily.

"This should have been done earlier. At least the government is making up for its mistake now. But it should designate more backup hotels as some 10,000 rooms can only last for 10 days," he said.

Yiu said many hotels would like to join the programme but have not been selected by the government.

He said the response from the sector has been enthusiastic as some operators who were reluctant to let their hotels be used for quarantine purposes at first see little choice now their business has been badly affected by the continuing pandemic.