Advertisement
Coronavirus: as barriers to movement rise, Hong Kong travel agencies pull plug on international tour groups
- Tourism lawmaker predicts local travel agencies could see income flatline amid travel curbs and slashing of airline flight schedules
- Wing On Travel scrapped all April tours after Carrie Lam extended red travel alert to all foreign countries
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Tens of thousands of Hongkongers have seen their holiday plans scrapped as the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across Asia, Europe and America, with two major Hong Kong travel agencies pulling the plug on international tours.
Advertisement
The Travel Industry Council said on Tuesday that more than 4,400 tour groups had been called off as of Monday afternoon, affecting nearly 140,000 travellers.
It warned that the government’s plan to extend a red travel alert to all foreign countries would result in outbound travel agencies’ business grinding to a halt, sparking calls from the industry for fresh relief measures to avoid a wave of company closures.
Under new travel curbs, arrivals to Hong Kong from any overseas nation from Thursday will be put under 14-day home quarantine or medical surveillance.
The new restrictions do not apply to arrivals from Macau or Taiwan, while those coming in from mainland China have been subject to mandatory quarantine since last month.
Advertisement
Advertisement