The Chinese Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has de facto largely isolated itself from the outside world since the beginning of the corona pandemic. Now they want to lure tourists back into the country. In addition, 500.000 flight tickets will be raffled off.

The free tickets are just a small part of the advertising measures that are being used in order to be able to build on the number of visitors you had before the pandemic as soon as possible. In 2019 it had about 56 million tourists. But even then, due to protracted protests and demonstrations, people were below the former values.

The current actions are not a reinvention, because the plans were already in the drawer and should boost incoming tourism, which was hit by the protests. It has not yet been possible to implement this because of the pandemic. After the administration of the special administrative zone relaxed the entry and quarantine regulations in several steps, they now want to start again.

A spokesman for the airport authority explains where the tickets that are now being raffled come from: "In 2020, the Hong Kong Airport Authority bought around 500.000 flight tickets in advance from the airlines based in the area as part of an aid package to support the airline industry. This was intended to inject liquidity to airlines in advance while tickets are being given away to global visitors and Hong Kong residents as part of the market recovery campaign."

The total value of the tickets is around 255 million US dollars. These were bought from HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines and Cathay Pacific, among others. However, the local tourism authority does not expect the action to lead to a quick recovery in the sector. Rather, it is assumed that it will be a lengthy process. Unless the corona measures are tightened again, it should take about a year before Hong Kong is in demand again.