Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hong Kong’s corona measures have been among the strictest in the world. Strict entry regulations in particular are having a major impact on the financial metropolis from an economic point of view. This is set to change from next week.
After two and a half years, Hong Kong abolishes mandatory hotel quarantine for all arrivals from abroad. From Monday, PCR tests and a three-day ban on visiting bars were enough, said Hong Kong Prime Minister John Lee. Hong Kong’s previous corona rules were among the strictest in the world and had damaged the economy of the financial metropolis. “The hotel quarantine system will be lifted,” Lee said at a news conference. A three-day hotel quarantine is currently mandatory when entering the country from abroad. Last year, the hotel quarantine period was even 21 days.
From Monday, those entering Hong Kong will only be obliged to take a PCR test and not to visit restaurants and bars during their first three days in Hong Kong. The new regulation is summarized with the formula “0 3”. If the corona test is positive upon entry, those affected must continue to isolate themselves in hotel rooms or state quarantine centers.
With its quarantine regulation, Hong Kong followed the example of mainland China, which has strict measures such as lockdowns and mass tests even for the smallest corona outbreaks. China is the only major economy still following this strict zero-Covid strategy. However, the hotel quarantine had isolated Hong Kong internationally and damaged its economy.
According to an index published on Thursday, Hong Kong has lost its appeal as a financial hub. According to the Index of Global Financial Centers (GFCI), Hong Kong has now been replaced as the most attractive financial center in Asia by Singapore, which has already largely abolished its corona restrictions.
The quarantine regulation for travelers entering Hong Kong contributed, among other things, to the emigration of highly qualified foreign workers. According to official figures, the Chinese special administrative region has lost around 113,000 residents since mid-2021. The Hong Kong government has therefore faced pressure from citizens, business owners and even some of its health experts to end hotel quarantine for inbound travelers. The demands became even louder after a corona wave in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, because since then the corona infections within the special administrative region have clearly outweighed the cases imported from abroad.
Hong Kong’s economy has shrunk for the past two quarters, meaning it is in recession. Chief Financial Officer Paul Chan expects the budget deficit to grow to HK$100 billion by the end of the year. Before Corona, Hong Kong’s airport was one of the busiest in the world. Its passenger numbers are currently just 3.8 percent of what it was before the pandemic.
This Friday, the websites of the Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific and its low-cost airline HK Express were bombarded with booking requests, Cathay Pacific announced 200 additional connections from October. However, it is not to be expected that flights to and from Hong Kong will increase drastically in the near future. Finally, many international airlines have reduced or suspended their connections.
Japan had also largely isolated itself from the outside world for two and a half years due to the corona pandemic. On Thursday, during a visit to New York, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that restrictions on foreign tourists would end on October 11. The program for visa-free entry suspended in March 2020 will then come into force again, and the upper limit for entries from abroad, which is currently 50,000 a day, will be removed. After guided group tours were allowed in June, individual trips to Japan by foreigners have been possible again since September. However, they must be booked through a travel agency.
