Hong Kong to offer 500,000 free air tickets to lure tourists!

Hong Kong recently announced that it is planning to give away 500,000 airline tickets to global visitors to boost its COVID-hit tourism industry.

As reported earlier, Hong Kong had some of the world’s toughest quarantine rules as it followed China’s ‘zero-Covid’ policies.

However, the city announced last month that people arriving in the city would no longer be required to undergo hotel quarantine or provide a negative COVID test before boarding a flight to Hong Kong.

Now, while speaking to the media personnel, a spokesperson from the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), confirmed plans to give away half a million airline tickets to residents and global visitors in a bid to boost tourism.

The spokesperson further added that back in 2020, AAHK purchased around 500,000 air tickets in advance from the territory’s home-based airlines as part of a relief package to support the aviation industry.

He further added that the purchase serves the purpose of injecting liquidity into the airline’s upfront, while the tickets will be given away to global visitors and Hong Kong residents in the market recovery campaign.

He also informed that more details will be announced soon by Hong Kong’s tourism board once the relevant arrangements have been made with the airlines.

Also, Executive Director of Hong Kong Tourism Board Dang Cheng stated that the free tickets that were bought during the pandemic, will be distributed next year to inbound and outbound travellers by the city’s airport authority.