LONDON – Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, officially launched the “Hello Hong Kong” campaign set for 2 February 2023. The campaign is a series of “promotional activities and highlight the many new attractions, developments and opportunities for visitors coming to Hong Kong.”
In a press release issued by the HK Government, it was reported that Mr Lee, spoke at the unveiling ceremony, saying the city was now in a new phase of advancing from stability to prosperity.
Being seamlessly connected to the Mainland and the rest of the world, it is the perfect time for tourists, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators to come and experience the vibrancy of the city, and seize opportunities to flourish.
500,000 air tickets
The centrepiece of the campaign is to distribute 500,000 free airline tickets to welcome “people from around the world to come and experience the hospitality of Hong Kong in person.”
It is a move designed to re-attract tourist visitors and businesses to the Special Administrative Region (SAR) since the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
The SAR experienced some of the most restrictive COVID-19 measures in the world as part of China’s Zero COVID policies. HK SAR welcomed approximately 50 million tourists in 2019 with this sharply reducing in the years since.
It is also part of a Public Relations campaign to improve the city’s image on the world stage since the political turmoil seen due to new security laws being introduced and widespread protests in 2019.
Speaking at a press conference held after the unveiling ceremony, the City’s Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, said “the ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign would tell people around the world that Hong Kong is back again.”
“The newly-established Task Force on Promoting and Branding Hong Kong will seize this timely opportunity to devise narratives to proactively demonstrate Hong Kong’s new strengths.”
The HK Airport Authority announced that there various ways of winning the tickets, including a lottery system and two-for-one purchases.
It was reported in 2020 that the HK Airport Authority had purchased tickets from its based carriers (HK Express, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Hong Kong Airlines) as part of a COVID rescue package valued at approximately 2 billion USD.
The link to the Airport Authority giveaway can be found here.
