Hong Kong businesses bloom over Easter as holiday spending locally almost reaches pre-coronavirus levels
- Hotel occupancy hits 90 per cent as lack of travel sees residents opt for staycations
- City’s theme parks and restaurants all report surge over five-day holiday
Hotels, restaurants and theme parks in Hong Kong recorded a sharp rebound in business during the five-day Easter break, while the catering sector sought to improve its fortunes further by motivating staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Hotels offering staycations with swimming pools, restaurants and child facilities, were about 90 per cent full during the long weekend, which ended on Tuesday, compared with about 40 to 50 per cent occupancy on normal days, according to industry sources.
Restaurants generated HK$320 million (US$41 million) in daily revenue, or 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, they said.
The high level of occupancy marked the hotels’ best performance since the national day holiday in October last year, or before the outbreak of the Covid-19 fourth wave, on the back of the city’s near-lockdown, tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said on Tuesday.
“Staying at hotels with staycation features, such as outdoor pools, different dining options and entertainment for children costs less than HK$1,000 per room/night for four- or five-star ones, which is only one-third or even half the price in normal times,” he said. “Hong Kong hotels will have to rely on staycation deals for local customers, a situation which will prevail for at least the next three months.”
The two theme parks – Hong Kong Disneyland resort on Lantau Island and Ocean Park in the Southern district – also did well and were packed with visitors over Easter. Disneyland was so busy that it extended operating hours to 8.30pm and will not have any walk-in customers on Wednesday because all bookings have been snapped up.
