The Hong Kong government has announced that it will distribute 500,000 airline tickets for free to tourists worldwide to promote tourism in the country. The value of these tickets is estimated to be $254.8 million.
It is worth noting that Hong Kong’s tourism sector has suffered significant damage due to restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, following the lifting of these restrictions, the government is working to revive tourism.
As the number of tourists arriving in Hong Kong has drastically decreased, various airlines are striving to maintain their operations or flights to Hong Kong.
On the other hand, on Wednesday, British airline Virgin Atlantic announced that it would suspend its flight operations to Hong Kong due to issues arising from the Ukraine war.
Xian Cheng, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, stated, “Hong Kong’s airport authority will finalize arrangements with airline companies regarding this matter. After the government’s final announcement, we will start a promotional campaign for the free airline tickets.” Cheng added that these tickets were purchased by the Hong Kong government from various airlines during the pandemic to mitigate the airlines’ losses and ensure they could continue their operations to Hong Kong. These tickets will now be distributed for free to the public.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has announced that it will close its office in Hong Kong and cease its flights between London and Hong Kong after 30 years of operation.
Due to Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, many airlines have canceled their flights to various countries because of the war’s impact, which has led to the need for longer flight routes due to restricted airspace in conflict zones.
Virgin Atlantic has apologized to its loyal customers for the inconvenience caused by the closure of this route or any other route and will refund all customers who have pre-booked tickets or offer to rebook on an alternative Virgin Atlantic route.
In the first eight months of this year, the number of travelers to Hong Kong was 184,000. This data shows a significant decrease in the number of tourists compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, 560,000 tourists visited Hong Kong.
