Hong Kong to give away 500,000 free air tickets to boost tourism

Hong Kong will give away 500,000 airline tickets worth HK$2 billion (US$254 million) as part of an effort early next year to entice travellers to visit the city once authorities remove all coronavirus restrictions for arrivals.

 Dane Cheng Ting-yat, executive director of the Tourism Board, on Wednesday said his organisation would be handling the advertising campaign for the scheme, which was expected to launch in early 2023, while the Airport Authority would distribute the tickets. “Once the government announces it will remove all Covid-19 restrictions for inbound travellers, we’ll roll out the advertising campaigns for the free air tickets,” he said.

 “The Airport Authority will finalise the arrangement with airline companies. The free plane tickets are not all for inbound tourists. Some of them will be given to outbound travellers, while some will be distributed via travel agents.”