Hong Kong's Hello Half-Baked

Lim was long on giveaways and short on free ticket details

This morning the Hong Kong Tourism Board director for Canada, Central and South Americas Michael Lim talked to the CBC Vancouver morning show about the "Hello Hong Kong" campaign.

He seemed to read out the endless list of giveaways from restaurant vouchers to welcome drinks and even transportation, as well as some of the new tourist spots to check out.

When the host asked how many tickets would be given out and when, Lim replied it was not clear yet but details would be coming soon.

Campaign not enough to lure visitors to the city

If you launch a global campaign and want to promote it, surely you need to know all the details? It sounds half-baked.

And then when he was challenged about how how Hong Kong has changed so much in the last few years, with its rights and freedoms seriously eroded, how would visitors see the city now, Lim completely ignored it and went on about how much it has to offer. 

Lucky for him the interview was short, but it would have been more interesting to grill him further about the authorities suddenly letting go of strict Covid-19 policies, and how come masks are still mandatory?

Or how about the campaign coincides with the trial of 47 pro-democracy activists and lawmakers that will last for 90 days?

But really, when Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu unveiled this massive extravaganza, all everyone wants to know is how they can sign up for a chance to win free airline tickets.

Gotta keep those masks on. All the time.

It's interesting that Hong Kong is keen to invite tourists from Southeast Asia first, from March 1 -- why not earlier? Followed by Mainland China in April, northeast Asia and all other markets in May. What's also bizarre is outbound tickets from Hong Kong will also be given away. 

Tourism officials claimed it was a way for Hongkongers to spread the word about their hometown being open for business... 

Meanwhile looking at the HKTB website, users are greeted with two warnings:

The first invites people to come visit -- including from Taiwan -- without quarantine, isolation or even vaccination requirements, and the second is a friendly reminder that CBD or cannabidiol is a "dangerous drug in Hong Kong".

However despite claiming all pandemic restrictions are gone, the mask mandate is still there, but there is no friendly reminder that masks are mandatory. Guess you find that out when you get there...