Meanwhile, just as local tour operators began to breathe a small sigh of relief, more bad news within the industry reared its ugly head.

Last week, the struggling businesses were given the green light to conduct city tours in groups of no more than 30 people. But not long after the relaxed measures came into play, a major local tour company announced they would stop paying their staff from November while retaining their positions; more are expected to follow suit in a bid to stay afloat.

This has been the reality for many months though, as it has been reported many tour guides have had no income since Lunar New Year in February. Many in the business have had no choice but to take unpaid leave.

The hit to the travel and tourism industry has been devastating worldwide, but Hongkongers have been going particularly stir crazy as a result of being grounded in their home city.

We love to travel and, according to a study by Visa in 2018, take an average of 2.7 trips per year.

The wanderlust of Hong Kong residents is understandable given the city’s cramped living conditions. The average size of a flat in the city is a mere 484 sq ft, and has to accommodate families of four. Shockingly, some flats are a mere 170 sq ft, about the size of a parking space. Subdivided flats are smaller still.

Knowing this, it’s perfectly understandable that when Hongkongers are on their home turf, they find novel ways to satiate their wanderlust throughout the year.

Besides shopping, eating a hotpot meal in summer, and karaoke singing, other favourite pastimes include visiting furniture shops. If you’ve ever shopped at Ikea on a weekend or public holiday, you may have noticed that its showrooms are always packed.

Many people you see might just be there to buy a small item like a towel, a photo frame, or some pots and pans, but end up staying the entire afternoon.

In an Ikea store, it’s not unusual for couples and families to sit in a showroom and treat it like their own home. They will chat and pretend they’re watching television, all the while choosing to be totally oblivious to the hustle and bustle around the store.

I often see young couples posing for selfies in these well-decorated Ikea “homes” that are kitted out like a flat of a movie set. Many even come with a fully equipped kitchen and bathroom (minus the plumbing, of course).

All these people want is to soak up the atmosphere by pretending to be living in their “dream home”, even if it’s only for an afternoon.

Ikea isn’t unaware of this trend; in fact, the company encourages it. It knows exactly what Hong Kong people want and gives them a taste of that in their showrooms. And when customers exit the store, they are subconsciously nudged into taking a piece of that perfect homey feeling with them by buying even just a small Ikea product.

Our local tour operators need to give people the same experience if they wish to survive. If they can truly understand what Hongkongers want, they can find a way to feed their escapist desires.

Going back to why locals love browsing in furniture shops so much, it’s because they want to make their shoebox flats as homely as possible. The extra challenge of decorating a small space can be fun, so if it requires multiple visits to different furniture shops, then they might as well make the most of these excursions.

So why not give Hongkongers just that? A chance to escape and a chance to forget?

Tour operators can organise local tours of beautiful homes, or maybe even allow homestays since the infrastructure of Airbnb is already there. Can you imagine taking them on a tour of luxury homes like the Hollywood tours of stars’ houses? The local version would be visiting spacious and luxurious residences, and for an extra fee, they could stay overnight and enjoy a decadent meal.

Staying creative during challenging times is survival. Tour operators need to think outside the box and ask themselves this: if they were the customer, would they want to visit local scenic spots or peek inside a beautiful seaside house in Sai Kung? It’s not difficult to see which one provides a better customer experience.

Luisa Tam is a Post correspondent who also hosts Cantonese-language video tutorials that are now part of Cathay Pacific’s in-flight entertainment programme