Tuesday, 26 April 2022

Hong Kong to welcome back visitors after two years



Hong Kong is to lift its ban on visitors arriving in the city for the first time since the Covid pandemic.

Hong Kong officials have announced said they would open borders to visitors from May 1, the first time in two years, ending strict border controls that effectively shut the international financial hub off from the outside world as it mirrored mainland China's strict zero-Covid policies.

The city drew about 56 million visitors in 2019 before virus restrictions dragged that figure to nearly zero, dealing a blow to the city's economy and sparking an expatriate exodus, Travel Mole reported.

The move came after Hong Kong allowed venues including gyms, theme parks, beauty parlours and movie theatres to reopen after a four-month closure sparked by an omicron-fuelled new outbreak.

Hong Kong has also dropped its mandatory hotel quarantine for visitors from 21 days to one week.

Meanwhile, citing a drop in infections, Singapore has said it is relaxing border controls by allowing all fully vaccinated travellers to enter via air or sea checkpoints without requiring a PCR test within two days of their departure.

Image: James Wong, scop.io

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