'Rugby Sevens Gave Lan Kwai Fong A Boost'

The chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, Allan Zeman, said on Monday that while business had gone up by around 25 to 35 percent during the Rugby Sevens weekend, it will still take a while before the tourism sector returns to pre-pandemic levels.

Zeman told RTHK that the atmosphere of last week’s games was much better than the previous Sevens in November last year, when many Covid restrictions were still in place.

“The last two, three days, it was back to the old days – pre-Covid days, pre-2019 days. Everything was really really good,” he said, adding that he expects business to improve further as more mega-events return to the city.

“These events that Hong Kong is holding are bringing in a lot of people from different parts of the world … I think in general it’s just showing that Hong Kong is an events capital again.”

However, he expects it will take more time for the tourism industry to make a full recovery, as a number of relevant sectors, such as aviation and catering, are still suffering from a manpower shortage.