Following the recent news that Hong Kong tourism chief, Dane Cheng, has stated that tourism will be returning back to normality in July and the destination will be focusing on attracting mainland visitors and new markets.

Amber Barnes, Travel and Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view on the recent announcement:

“China is a dominant source market for Hong Kong, accounting for 77% of arrivals in 2019. Focusing marketing efforts on this source market will also boost tourism numbers and allow Hong Kong decrease its recovery period.

“Hong Kong tourist officials should now concentrate on marketing what the destination has to offer, which will enhance the destination’s image and maybe even attract new markets.

“Tourist destinations must create strategic action now in order to recover as quickly as possible in a post-COVID-19 tourism environment. Hong Kong is showing that there are strategies in place that could prove to be successful.

“Globally, tourists will hold doubts in regards to traveling internationally and the inbound market will experience slower growth compared to its domestic counterpart in Hong Kong. Domestic and regional tourism will be likely to increase swiftly in July if tourism does regain normality around then. Demand for long-haul travel to Hong Kong will take longer to resume as a lack of consumer confidence will be prevalent when the impact of COVID-19 lessens. ‘Roll out regional’ will be a common theme in the tourism industry and the Hong Kong Tourism Board has recognized this.”