Are Western travellers avoiding Hong Kong over fears of ‘political dangers’? City’s tourism drive faces many hurdles: experts Hong Kong authorities in the midst of revamping the city’s tourism strategy have to deal with changes in the profile of visitors, not least the decline in high-spending mainland travellers. North American and European tourists have been slow to return since Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted last year, and experts suggest the reasons may have to do with Hong Kong’s image in relation to its politics and international relations. Hong Kong Tourism Board data showed 594,752 visitors were from the United States last year, around half the number who came in 2019. The first three months of this year were slightly better, hovering between 50 and 70 per cent of 2019 numbers for visitors from the US, Europe and the UK over the same period. Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat said the lacklustre performance was mainly due to the local currency being pegged to the US dollar, making the city more expensive to visit compared with places such as Thailand and Japan. Industry insiders also maintained that it was normal for long-haul travellers to take more time to return, as their trips needed extra planning. But such explanations do not square with the experience of Singapore, which is just as expensive as Hong Kong and just as far from Europe and North America. Despite its strong dollar, the city state was already boasting full recovery in visitors from the same markets in the first three months of this year, with several even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. So if neither distance nor price was an issue for Singapore, what could be keeping European, British and North American visitors away from Hong Kong? “There are several factors,” said Clement Kwok King-man, chief executive officer of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, which runs the landmark Peninsula in Tsim Sha Tsui. “Hong Kong has received some negative media coverage overseas, which has contributed to a lack of confidence.” Kwok said he felt Hongkongers needed to do more to talk up their city if it hoped to bring back visitors from further away. ‘Seeing is believing’ The city has an uphill task in its charm offensive, given travel warnings by several Western countries after Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020 and after Hong Kong passed its domestic national security bill more recently. The US issued a “level 2” travel alert, advising Americans to “exercise increased caution” when visiting Hong Kong. It has a “level 3” alert telling citizens to “reconsider travel” to the mainland and Macau. Canada’s travel advisory website tells Canadians to “exercise a high degree of caution” when visiting Hong Kong “due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws” even while on transit at the airport. The UK warns its citizens: “You could be detained or removed to mainland China for some offences under the 2020 national security law. The law can be interpreted broadly and some offences can lead to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.” Zeman said people around the world continued to have “misconceptions” about Hong Kong and it would take time to correct through word of mouth. “Seeing is believing,” he said, and visitors had to go home and share their positive experiences. He said Hong Kong was caught in the geopolitical tensions between the West and Beijing, and the lack of understanding of the city’s “one country, two systems” principle of governance. The Chinese University of Hong Kong academic cited the city’s strict, zero-Covid policy as a major reason businesses lost confidence. Some also chose to move parts of their operations online. All the experts the Post spoke to agreed that flight capacity was keeping long-haul visitors from Hong Kong and now, all eyes were on the city’s flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific. “What happened during Covid, unfortunately, was they decided to fire about 40 per cent of the pilots,” said Zeman, adding that it may not have been the airline’s fault entirely given the city’s harsh Covid restrictions. Although Cathay was trying to recover its lost manpower, the lack of flights meant airfares remained “very high” compared to Singapore Airlines and other airlines. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3264479/are-western-travellers-avoiding-hong-kong-over-fears-political-dangers-citys-tourism-drive-faces (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post