Faced with a collapse in travel as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, arrivals at Hong Kong fell by almost 94 % compared with the previous year. In 2019, the Hong Kong SAR welcomed almost 56 million international visitors. This figure included more than 43.5 million visitors from mainland China.
However, this result marked a decline, with many tourists shunning the destination in 2019 due to the anti-government protests. Tourism to Hong Kong had in fact reached an all-time high in 2018, with more than 65 million visitors. Of these, the long-haul markets generated more than two million travellers. Europe still accounted for more than 720,000 passengers.
According to provisional figures from the Hong Kong Tourist Office, the former British territory will have recorded 3.57 million arrivals last year. This is an all-time low over the last thirty years for what was once Asia's leading international destination. Most of this result was achieved in January 2020, when the city closed its borders for the Chinese New Year.
Europeans accounted for a third of the 330,000 long-haul visitors. The number of French visitors to Hong Kong from January to November 2020 was 13,300, down 92% on the previous year.
Long-term impact on business tourism
Hong Kong's business tourism destination has all but disappeared in this slump. All MICE and congress events have been cancelled.
L'HKTB Tourist Office took however the initiative to create an online exchange platform for professionals. The HKTB connects companies interested in organising MICE events in Hong Kong with local service providers. According to the HKTB, more than 500 companies from Hong Kong and the mainland have participated, and more than 1,300 meetings have been organised.
Prospects for improvement in the short term are poor. Nearly 12 months after the first cases were reported, the town is still virtually closed. Of all the borders, only three are open. These are the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, the port of Shenzhen Bay and the airport.
The conditions for entering the country remain excessively strict. Since the end of December, Hong Kong imposes another week of quarantine for travellers arriving from abroad. A total of 21 days. The three weeks of isolation must be spent in one of 36 hotels designated by the government.
Another factor is likely to slow Hong Kong's comeback as an international business destination. Many travellers fear that the new law on security set up by China. This applies to anyone who represents a danger to the People's Republic of China - a notion that is rather vague in its formulation.
At a seminar organised by the Asia Pacific Travel Association PATA, analyst Haiyan Song from Hong Kong Polytechnic University was cautiously optimistic. In his forecasts, he indicates that 2021 will remain a difficult year.. Even so, he points to a rapid recovery in 2022 and 2023, thanks to the return of the Chinese to the continent.
