Cheerful tourism signs, but we're not there yet

Hong Kong welcomed 1.46 million tourists last month - and more than 1.1 million of them were from the mainland.

It was the first time the city has recorded more than a million visitors in three years of the pandemic.

The Tourism Board said yesterday that arrivals in February were also equivalent to 30 percent of prepandemic levels.

Among the 353,000 non-mainland visitors there were 165,000 from what are classed as short-haul markets, mainly Southeast Asian countries.

The board also sees the number of leisure-focused visitors as being "on a continuous rise."

It is stepping up its Hong Kong Goodies promotion, and the MTR Corp is offering 100,000 single-journey tickets on the Airport Express from or to Hong Kong Station and 100,000 Tourist Day Passes starting from noon on March 28.

The rail operator will distribute 100,000 coupons worth 30 yuan (HK$34.10) to high-speed rail passengers, who can redeem them at designated online travel agencies when buying train tickets.

The MTRC said the offers worth over HK$20 million are "a token of the corporation's support for efforts to boost tourism and inject impetus" into the economy.

"By giving away free tickets for local train services and discounts for purchasing high-speed rail tickets we hope visitors ... can experience the courtesy of Hong Kong and have a wonderful and amazing trip," said MTR chief executive Jacob Kam Chak-pui.

The Tourism Board said 3,000 outlets will be offering the Hong Kong Goodies visitor consumption coupons from next month, double the number of outlets now.

The coupons will include welcome drinks at bars, restaurants and hotels and offers at tourist attractions and culinary and retail outlets.

Tourists can get coupons from Tourism Board visitor centers at the airport, West Kowloon Station, Star Ferry concourse, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Hong Kong Port and the Heung Yuen Wai/Liantang border control point.

And the Hong Kong Jockey Club started providing 2,000 packages of exclusive tourist offers worth HK$430 each. A package includes a tourist badge, food and beverage coupons and discount coupons for souvenirs.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Airlines launched its second Beijing route between Hong Kong and Beijing Daxing International Airport. That makes it the first Hong Kong carrier to provide flights to both the international airports in the country's capital. The other one is Beijing Capital International.

The inaugural flight HX308 took off at 9.35am from Hong Kong and landed at Daxing at 12.55pm.

The airline currently offers services between Hong Kong and Daxing four times a week, and that will become daily from Sunday. It expects flight operations to resume to 45 percent of the prepandemic level by next month.

Hong Kong Airlines operates flights to 18 destinations: Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, Sapporo, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Manila, Hanoi, Bali, Beijing Capital, Beijing Daxing, Shanghai Hongqiao, Shanghai Pudong, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Haikou.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com