Travel policy easing, but Hong Kong quarantine hotels in dilemma

According to the list of designated quarantine hotels released by the Hospital Authority yesterday (August 29), four of the 68 designated quarantine hotels have announced to stop serving inbound travelers for their quarantine needs as they see lower income under the current entry policy.  

With the newly applied ‘3+4’ format for inbound travelers, the government issued the eighth phase to designate 68 hotels for visitors arriving from overseas to complete their compulsory quarantine until October 31 this year.  

The eighth phase marked the most available quarantine hotels since the scheme launched in 2020, with over 26,000 rooms provided.  

Four hotels were found no longer on the quarantine hotel list yesterday.  

“Many quarantine hotels see their income in deficit as the period for quarantine is reduced,” said Chan Wun-in, an executive of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners.  

“Travelers didn’t increase a lot after relaxing the overseas arrivals rules, but fewer fees were charged as the shorter period they stayed, which made hotels unable to strike a balance between income and cost,” she said.  

Besides, she added, worse is that fewer visitors will be received in hotels when the summer vacation ends.  

“It is believed that more designated quarantine hotels would ‘get off the boat,’” claimed Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, on a radio program today (August 30).  

The whole occupancy rate of the quarantine hotels was only 60 percent currently, and the growth of tourism seems limited if the policy continues, he said.  

Over 80 percent of people who booked the hotels were from the mainland, Chui mentioned, tourism sees difficulties in reviving before the border between Hong Kong and the mainland reopens.  

Hospital Authority said yesterday that around 1,500 rooms were unavailable for quarantine due to the withdrawal of the four hotels.  

The Authority said there are 25,000 rooms left, and the government will adjust the policy to the need for visitors.