Tourism Chief: Industry's Comeback Will Take Time

A top tourism official on Sunday warned that it will take some time for the industry to get back to pre-pandemic levels, with businesses across the sector struggling to get enough staff.

Speaking a week after quarantine-free travel with the mainland resumed, Dane Cheng, executive director of the Tourism Board, said the easing of Covid-19 restrictions offered light at the end of the tunnel, but the days of an average of 180,000 tourist arrivals per day were still far off.

"When any market in the world reopens for their tourists to return, the biggest challenge is the capacity and the lack of manpower, and particularly for the airlines, the airports and hotels," Cheng told reporters after attending a radio programme.

"I think in the case of Hong Kong, we notice that even the dining and the retail sector are short of manpower."

Under an agreement between SAR and mainland authorities, 50,000 Hong Kong people are allowed to travel north via land crossings each day, with the same number of mainland people able to book places to journey south. Officials announced on Saturday that the quota would rise to 65,000 from Wednesday to Saturday to beat the Lunar New Year holiday rush.

The figures do not include air or sea journeys or travel by the Express Rail Link, which resumed on Sunday.

However, Cheng noted that 80 percent of the 180,000 travellers who arrived on average each day before the pandemic were from the mainland.

"Crossing the border, particularly now the whole arrangement has been made better or [more] seamless than before, I think it will be fantastic for them to return. But it will take time to ramp up, it will take time for them [mainland travellers] to renew their travel documents, and apply for the permits," he said.

Cheng expressed confidence that a series of large-scale events in March, including the Clockenflap music festival, Art Basel and the Hong Kong Sevens rugby competition, will bring tourists back to the city.