The first batch of visitors from the Chinese mainland cross to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at Futian port in Shenzhen on Jan 8, 2023. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – Cross border travel between the mainland and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao would fully resume from Feb 6, dropping existing quotas and scrapping a mandatory COVID-19 test that was required before traveling.
Group tours between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao would resume, while the number of customs checkpoints open will return to pre-pandemic levels, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in a statement on its website on Friday.
Group tours between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao would resume, while the number of customs checkpoints open will return to pre-pandemic levels
The announcement came a day after Hong Kong launched a promotion campaign including 500,000 free flights to lure back visitors, businesses and investors to the financial hub after more than three years of COVID-19 curbs.
Even after the mainland reopened its borders to the world on Jan 8, a quota system and COVID-19 testing requirement remained for travelers between the mainland and the HKSAR.
The three border checkpoints that have not yet reopened will do so from Feb 6, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said at a press conference on Friday.
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Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu speaks during a press conference at the Central Government Offices on Feb 3, 2023. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)
Chief Excutive John Lee Ka-chiu (third right); Chief Secretary for Administration Chan Kwok-ki (third left); Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung (second right); Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau (second left); Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung (first right) and Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin (first left) attend a press conference to announce the modalities of the full resumption of the cross-border travel at the Central Government Offices on Feb 3, 2023. (ANDY CHONG/ CHINA DAILY)
Hong Kong will also scrap a COVID-19 vaccination requirement to enter Hong Kong for all arrivals, including non-Hong Kong residents, Lee added.
Searches on mainland travel website Qunar for round trip air tickets to and from Hong Kong and the mainland increased seven-fold on Friday after the HKMAO announcement, data from state media China Transportation News showed.
READ MORE: CE: Full boundary reopening with mainland ‘very soon’
Hong Kong began to gradually unwind its rules from the middle of 2022. Hong Kong dropped most of its remaining COVID rules in December, but mask-wearing remains mandatory unless exercising, and students must take daily rapid antigen tests.
With Reuters inputs