Two more Chinese cities are set to join a scheme that allows residents to go to Hong Kong as independent tourists, rather than as members of a guided group.
Hong Kong’s hospitality sector
The move comes as part of efforts to revive tourism in Hong Kong, which has suffered successive blows, including the impact of 2019-2020 series of demonstrations. These resulted in violent clashes between protesters and authorities, mass arrests, the introduction of new national security laws, and electoral reform to ensure only “patriots” were in positions of power. By the time the Covid-19 pandemic and its shutdown hit, the image of Hong Kong as a cultural and tourist destination had already been damaged.
Visitor numbers recovered to levels not seen since before the pandemic during the 2024 Lunar New Year celebrations, reaching 1.4 million – of whom 87% hailed from mainland China.
However, these mainland Chinese tourists were spending less compared to pre-pandemic levels…
