Hong Kong's tourism industry slowly crawls back from the brink

Hong Kong, the bustling tourist destination that once drew hordes of visitors from mainland China was hit hard by COVID.

Hong Kong's tourism industry slowly crawls back from the brink
Mainland Chinese travellers on low-cost tours walk to a tourist bus after lunch at To Kwa Wan in Hong Kong, China March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

The backstory: Hong Kong, the bustling tourist destination that once drew hordes of visitors from mainland China was hit hard by COVID. The travel restrictions put in place in 2020 devastated the city's bars, restaurants and shops and the tourism industry as a whole.

More recently: Mainland Chinese visitors have been flocking in through ferries, coaches and high-speed rail since the borders fully reopened in February. But there's a hiccup in the travel industry due to worker shortages at the Hong Kong airport, which has caused a slow recovery of flights. This has left airlines struggling to meet the high demand from mainland travelers.

The development: According to travel data company Cirium, Cathay Pacific, the flag carrier airline of Hong Kong, flew more than 110 return flights per week to 15 mainland cities last month. But the number of available seats is only two-thirds of what it was back in 2019. The top five destinations from Hong Kong were major cities like Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Beijing and Hangzhou, which means not many mainland Chinese visitors are coming to Hong Kong from beyond the Greater Bay area.

Even though the number of visitors to Hong Kong hasn't quite returned to pre-pandemic levels, the city is gearing up for an influx of tourists from mainland China during the upcoming Ching Ming Festival and Easter weekend. The Immigration Department is estimating that most of the 9 million people expected to travel to Hong Kong from the mainland will cross by land during this holiday season. Cathay Pacific and HK Express are planning to operate at 70% of their pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the end of this year.

Key comments:

“Airlines need time to get aircraft back into service from long-term parking, ramp up manpower, resources and training, and manage passenger handling contracts and arrangements,” said Xie Xingquan, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) regional vice-president for North Asia to SCMP.

“It’s not easy to maintain Hong Kong’s international financial center status,” said Billy Mak, an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University’s Department of Accountancy, Economics and Finance.

“The substantial loss of manpower is the crucial factor affecting the aviation industry,” said Perry Yiu, a tourism sector lawmaker. “The shortage not only includes pilots, flight attendants and engineers but also ground staff and grassroots workers.”