Hong Kong to open borders to international tourists from May 1



Hong Kong has taken the first steps towards reopening its borders to international tourists, with new rules set to take effect on May 1, 2022.


From today, fully vaccinated travelers can enter Hong Kong and undergo the same boarding, quarantine and testing arrangements as Hong Kong residents.


These include testing before departure, followed by further "test and hold" procedures upon arrival at Hong Kong International, and finally a seven-day hotel quarantine.


The "test and hold" arrangement will be improved from early May, allowing arrivals to undergo rapid antigen testing instead of the previous PCR test (results take a long time to be known), and the Hong Kong government has said it will "shorten the waiting time at the airport for inbound passengers" , reduce crowd gathering, and strictly control the risk of importation.”


Hong Kong lifted its ban on incoming passenger flights from nine countries, including the U.K. and the U.S., since April 1, noting that although daily incoming passenger numbers since early April (from the daily average from January to March) of less than 300 cases since April 1, about 1,200 since April 1), "the proportion of imported cases has actually decreased rather than increased" - from about 3% to about 1% since early April.