Covid: Hong Kong to lure tourists with free air tickets

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Hong Kong will give away half a million airline tickets in a bid to boost its tourism industry.

Several of the city's coronaviruses rules have been rolled back recently.

Major airlines are having trouble getting their flight schedules back to normal.

Virgin Atlantic will stop operating in Hong Kong because of issues related to the Ukraine war.

The airport authority will make a deal with airlines. The Hong Kong Tourism Board will start advertising for free air tickets once the government removes Covid-19 restrictions for inbound travellers.

The city's airport authority will distribute the free tickets to inbound and outbound travellers next year.

Virgin Atlantic will close its office in Hong Kong and stop flying between the city and London after 30 years.

Due to the ongoing Russian airspace closure, the British carrier has decided not to resume flights in March of next year.

The airline stopped flying to Hong Kong in December.

Several airlines have stopped flights due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We are very sorry for the disappointment caused to our loyal customers on this route and anyone booked to travel from March 2023 will be offered a refund, voucher or the option to rebook on an alternative Virgin Atlantic route," Virgin said.

Hong Kong used to have some of the toughest rules in the world.

The Hong Kong government said last month that it would no longer require people arriving in the city to show a negative Covid test before boarding flights to Hong Kong.

Travelers have to keep an eye on themselves in the three days after arrival. There was a rush for flights from Hong Kong to other destinations.

The offer of free air tickets will speed up the process of repairing Hong Kong's reputation as a popular travel destination according to Prudence.

She said that the market potential of a full recovery was represented by Hong Kong's pre-covid status.

More than half of Hong Kong's inbound arrivals and travel receipts are from mainland China.

In the first eight months of the year, 184,000 people visited Hong Kong. 56m people visited the city as a whole in 2015, but that dropped to 56m in 2019.