Several residents have already started booking beauty treatments, yoga classes and gym sessions while others are planning holidays at theme parks in what they called “revenge spending.”

Chloe Cheung, a 27-year-old teacher, said she would be revenge spending next week by booking a 30-minute facial treatment, a body massage and a yoga class.

The leisure activities will cost her about HK$3,500 (US$446), with Cheung saying she planned to take four days of annual leave to enjoy herself.

“Finally, we are gradually restoring a normal life after a long wait,” she said.

Leung Chun-kit, 32, a fitness enthusiast, said he had already spent more than HK$10,000 last week on an 18-class package in anticipation of gyms reopening.

“I have stuck to an unhealthy lifestyle with working from home and gym closures, and I can’t stand it any longer,” Leung said, adding he would also visit Disneyland with his girlfriend.

However, the new measures will require businesses to continue following the vaccine pass arrangement, which bans anyone who is not inoculated from entering government-run facilities, dining at restaurants and entertainment premises.

If cinemas decide to sell food and drink, patrons will need to have received three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Employees at reopened businesses will also be required to regularly undergo rapid antigen tests (RAT).

03:14

What you need to know as Hong Kong gets set to ease Covid-19 restrictions from April 21

What you need to know as Hong Kong gets set to ease Covid-19 restrictions from April 21

Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of Kam Kee Holdings operating 44 eateries with about 1,000 employees, said he was worried that the requirement for catering staff to conduct rapid tests every three days would increase operating costs and make work more stressful.

“I have no problem with this extra cost, but for other eateries, they might need to dish out an extra sum of money to provide test kits for employees. This will put an extra strain on their financial burden,” he said. “For my group, I have to fork out an additional HK$100,000 every month.”

Despite the testing requirement, Chui said he expected a 20 per cent boost in business for the catering industry once dining restrictions were relaxed from April and with the disbursement of the first round of this year’s e-vouchers.

Seafood Delight Group chairman David Leung Chi-wai, who runs 17 Chinese restaurants and employs 900 people, said the company had stocked up millions of RAT kits to test staff every day, for the cost of HK$8 per kit.

“We are all geared up for the resumption of evening dine-in service with discounted meals and free snacks,” he said.

Juliana Yang Hui-chun, chairwoman of the International Professional Make Up Artists Federation (HK), said some beauty salons had already disinfected their premises ahead of Lam’s announcement, but were concerned about the costs of buying test kits.

“If a salon has to provide kits for a number of their employees and customers, the costs will be high. There’s a huge difference in prices for test kits and we are not sure if the government will only approve certain brands to fulfil the measures,” she said, adding the kits could range in price from “tens of dollars” to about HK$100.

But Dr Sam Wong Wing-sum, executive director of the Physical Fitness Association of Hong Kong, said his industry was willing to test trainers and cleaning staff either daily or every few days.

Wong said that RAT kits were cheaper and more convenient for employees than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

“Previously, in the third and fourth wave, the fitness industry had to queue up for PCR tests every week. If we had to pay for PCR tests out of pocket, that would cost each person HK$240 per test,” he said.

The operators behind Hong Kong’s top tourist attractions were also making plans to entice visitors, with Ocean Park and the Ngong Ping 360 cable car to offer an admission fee discount of up to 50 per cent.

Local tours will also resume with a maximum of 30 patrons per trip. All staff will be required to have taken three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and undergo rapid tests before every event.

Chan Chi-wah, director of travel agency Eat Play Travel, said his company received at least 10 enquiries about local tours on Thursday. He added that the operator would resume routes through neighbourhoods like Tsim Sha Tsui and to outlying islands such as Tung Ping Chau.

Since the fifth wave outbreak in late December, Chan said the company had already lost about HK$60,000 to HK$70,000, with the business forced to pay rents and employees’ salaries despite the suspension of operations.

He added that the resumption of local tours would be the “preliminary step” towards recovery.

Paul Chan Chi-yuen, co-founder and CEO of Walk in Hong Kong said hoped to recover at least 50 per cent of losses by resuming tours from May.

The company, which offers local walking tours, had lost about HK$400,000 as a result of cancellations during the fifth wave of the coronavirus, he said.

But tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said it was unlikely cruises would be resuming business in the next two to three months, noting it would take time for operators to deploy ships to Hong Kong.

With the easing of anti-epidemic curbs, the Hong Kong Tourism Board announced it would relaunch a scheme allowing shoppers to use retail receipts to redeem staycation deals and local trips, pending the announcement of further details.

In March, the city recorded 1,800 inbound tourists, a 73 per cent decrease year on year. The figure included 996 visitors from mainland China, representing a year-on-year loss of about 80 per cent.

The first quarter of 2022 saw a total of 11,490 visitors, a 30.5 per cent drop year on year.