Hong Kong schools welcome prospect of return of overseas study tours as hotel quarantine rule axed
- Schools eager to resume overseas trips for pupils after three-year break forced by Covid restrictions
- Study tour agents predict increased business as some schools prepare to send pupils on trips next year
Some Hong Kong schools are planning to restart overseas study tours after a three-year break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the wake of Monday’s removal of mandatory hotel quarantine.
Study tour agencies said on Tuesday they expected the number of trips organised for schools could surge, but that some parents might still hesitate to sign up their children because of fears over coronavirus infection risks overseas.
Lee Yi-ying, the head of Kowloon True Light School and treasurer of the Hong Kong Subsidised Secondary School Council, said educational establishments wanted to see overseas trips back on the curriculum.
She said her school was now preparing study tours and hoped to run one to Japan next Easter at the earliest after the country announced it would drop a cap on its daily limit for arrivals next month.
“The weather in April is nice to have study tours, but we need to be cautious about the development of the pandemic in different places,” she said, adding that the school might hold another tour to Britain in the summer break.
But the principal said the school might not purchase flight tickets at present because they wanted to see if prices would go down as more airlines returned to normal services to Hong Kong.
No more hotel quarantine in Hong Kong for arrivals from Monday
Arrivals to the city now only need to undergo three days of home medical surveillance under the new “O+3” system, during which their movement citywide is limited.
The change was a relaxation from the earlier “3+4” scheme, where arrivals completed three days of hotel quarantine and four days of home medical surveillance.
Leung Ka-yiu, the vice-principal of Kwun Tong Maryknoll College, said her school had also started discussions on the resumption of overseas trips, including to the United Kingdom and Australia, which were destinations before the pandemic hit.
She said the schools would start asking pupils to make sure their passports were valid for possible trips next summer, although no details had been confirmed.
Cheung Fung, head of NLSI Lui Kwok Pat Fong College, also said his school was considering organising study tours to destinations in Southeast Asia, such as Taiwan and Singapore.
But he said it was premature to discuss details as the new policy had only just been announced.
Schools were told by the Education Bureau in 2020 to suspend exchange schemes or study tours outside Hong Kong to avoid large gatherings and minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission.
“All students’ exchange programmes to the mainland organised by the Education Bureau have been suspended or postponed … overseas exchange programmes could also pose significant risks to the participants. Schools should adopt the same principles when arranging such activities,” Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, then secretary for education, told the legislature.
A spokeswoman for the bureau on Tuesday said it would review and announce the arrangements for holding exchange activities at a suitable juncture.
Terrie Wong Yin-ming, the director of the International Student Exchange Centre, said a few schools had contacted the business for details after the hotel quarantine rules for overseas arrivals were lifted, expecting they would discuss the details of the summer holiday tours in November.
“We can finally have our business back,” she said, adding the centre used to organise study tours for 60 to 70 schools to English-speaking countries every summer.
For your eyes only: Hong Kong schools offer online tour to Japan for pupils
Wong said no tours could be held for the last three years as it was not possible for younger pupils returning to Hong Kong to undergo a hotel quarantine, which could be as long as 21 days at the time.
She said schools commissioning the company to organise tours were aiming at English-speaking countries, and wanted the trips in the summer as Christmas and Easter holidays were too short for a two-week tour.
Families had to pay around HK$18,000 (US$2,290) to HK$30,000 for the trips, depending on destination and duration.
Wong agreed that, although the number of study tours might increase, some parents would still hesitate to enrol their children because of infection fears.
Shirley Ling Suet-yee, the country programme manager for EF Education First, said the company had started to get some calls from schools to ask for quotations on study tours and predicted the number of enquiries would shoot up.
EF Education First arranged summer tours for 10 to 20 Hong Kong schools every year before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Ling said they were now considering running study tours at Christmas and Easter for pupils who wanted to join on their own.
“Last year, students from all other places except Hong Kong returned to study tours. I think some students in Hong Kong will now sign up,” she said.
