Hong Kong’s recent global promotional campaign will “kickstart” town’s reopening to international travelers, the Hong Kong Tourism Board told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.Â
As a part of the “Hello Hong Kong” campaign, which was launched on Thursday, 500,000 air tickets will likely be given away over the following six months, starting in March.
The tickets will likely be given out through three Hong Kong’s carriers — Cathay Pacific, HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines.Â
The free tickets are a part of the HK$2 billion ($255 milion) relief package that the federal government offered to airlines in 2020, throughout the height of the pandemic.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board can be investing a minimum of HK$100 million within the promotion of the campaign’s initial phase, it said on the launch ceremony.
But Hong Kong still faces a “dilemma” — its infrastructure has some catching as much as do to accommodate the rise in visitors, said Dane Cheng, the tourism board’s executive director.
“I feel this dilemma, we now have actually been seeing from other markets and destinations after they began to reopen within the last yr or so. It’s difficult to catch up … particularly for the airlines, the airports and even hotels,” he told CNBC.Â
“[But] you need to kickstart and … tell the world in a transparent message that Hong Kong after which mainland — we now have finally reopened.”
How the tickets are allocated
The ticket giveaway will likely be phased: It’s going to start with Southeast Asian markets, followed by mainland China and North Asia, and lastly, other parts of the world.Â
Some 80,000 tickets have also been reserved for Hong Kong residents which authorities aim to offer out in the summertime.
The variety of tickets for every region was based on “traffic shares” and visitor numbers from before the pandemic, said Cheng.
Fred Lam, the CEO of Hong Kong’s airport authority, also expects the free tickets to have multiplying effects on the number of holiday makers.
“We hope those that received the tickets will bring 2-3 more family and friends with them [to Hong Kong],” based on CNBC’s translations of Lam’s comments on the campaign launch ceremony.
“Although we’re only giving out 500,000 air tickets, we imagine it would herald greater than 1.5 million incoming tourists,” Lam added. That is about 10% of the full number of holiday makers expected throughout the campaign period.
As for the way visitors can get their hands on these free tickets, it would rely upon “local market regulations and customs,” he said.
“[That] could include large-scale lucky draws, giving it out through a first-come-first serve basis, offering buy-on-get-one free tickets, or through game participations,” Lam said.
‘Very clearly reopened’Â
On Friday, China said cross-border travel with Hong Kong and Macao would fully resume from Feb. 6, scrapping mandatory pre-departure tests and lifting arrival quotas, based on a Reuters report.
“I feel it’s extremely clear that the Hong Kong government and likewise our mainland central government has been very prudent they usually [made] it very clear that the whole lot desires to be resumed in an orderly and progressive manner,” said Cheng.Â
He added that before the pandemic, Hong Kong had “over 25 million overnight visitors” every year, and it would take town time to “get back” those numbers.
Return of MICE events in Hong KongÂ
Cheng said the past two to 3 years were “difficult” for Hong Kong’s MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences & exhibitions) industry, which brought in greater than 1.6 million overseas visitors in 2019, before the pandemic.Â
“The last yr or so, other countries and cities and destinations have began opening up and after all we now have some wonderful events which were in Hong Kong for years,” said Cheng.Â
“Anchor events [were] moving out they usually express regret, ‘We’ll other places in Southeast Asia, Middle East,’ or some just principally postpone or defer.”
Nevertheless, he said town is now “confident” and “looking forward to receiving visitors” again.
That will be seen through its “Hello Hong Kong” campaign, which has a 2023 lineup of greater than 250 events and festivals — including the Hong Kong Marathon, the Clockenflap music festival and Hong Kong Rugby Sevens.Â
There are also greater than 100 international MICE events planned for the yr, said town’s tourism board.Â
