Hong Kong – Page 3 – आवारा मुसाफिर

Hong Kong suspends transit flights from most of the world due to COVID-19

January 14, 2022343 Views

Hong Kong authorities said on Friday the city’s airport will suspend for a month transit flights from around 150 countries and territories considered high risk because of the coronavirus, deepening the global financial hub’s isolation. Separately, the territory’s leader Carrie Lam said restrictions on social life will be extended through the Lunar New Year holiday at the start of February, traditionally a time for shopping, feasting and family reunions. A flight attendant walks under an information board at the arrivals hall of Hong Kong International Airport, following infections of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Hong Kong, China January 11, 2022. REUTERS/Lam Yik “I know this will let a lot of people down,” Lam told reporters. “Covid is not yet under control.” To help ...

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Drag queens and refugee stories: touring the ‘real’ Hong Kong

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

September 11, 20211384 Views

Guide Michael Tsang was able to take tourists freely around Asia's financial hub in 2019, introducing them the city’s protest movement, explaining "one country, two systems" and showing them scenes of economic inequality. Since the coronavirus pandemic cut off foreign visitors and a sweeping national security law passed last year limited what Tsang's tours could show, his business has been hit hard. So he shifted to attract local residents with activism tours, including the city’s LGBT movement and refugee community. During an August tour he took 30 people to a drag show with a person called "MissTina UglyHaira" who styles herself after singer Christina Aguilera. Prancing up and down a bar in the city's Soho district in high heels and a mesh top, Tina details some of her life st...

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Hong Kong’s Art Basel fair runs with physical and virtual shows

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

May 21, 20211023 Views

The Art Basel contemporary art fair opened in Hong Kong on Wednesday, offering a combination of physical and virtual shows as many art collectors and curators were not able to travel to the city because of COVID-19 restrictions. The annual fair, which also has versions in Basel, Switzerland, and in Miami Beach, Florida, was cancelled in Hong Kong last year because of the pandemic. In 2019, it had attracted over 80,000 art lovers. Visitors look at artworks displayed at the Art Basel in Hong Kong, China May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Lam Yik This year, organisers have limited the number of visitors to the fair, which runs from May 19 to 23, in compliance with government social distancing rules. On Wednesday, hundreds of local visitors meandered through galleries while overseas collectors...

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Hong Kong to reopen bars, nightclubs from April 29 for vaccinated customers

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 27, 2021556 Views

Hong Kong will reopen bars and nightclubs from April 29 for people who have been vaccinated and who use a government mobile phone application, the Asian financial hub’s health secretary said on Tuesday. Sophia Chan told a press briefing the measures extended to bathhouses and karaoke lounges and would enable the venues to stay open until 2.00 a.m. All staff and customers must have received at least one vaccine dose for the venue to be operational and they must operate at half capacity, she said. FILE PHOTO: A staff cleans outside a bar in Hong Kong's Lan Kwai Fong after bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues were closed in response to a renewed rise in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, China. REUTERS/Lam Yik “We all hope life can return to normal but we need to allow...

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Hong Kong, Singapore to allow quarantine free travel to each other

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 11, 2020388 Views

A travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore will begin on Nov. 22, the two cities announced on Wednesday, as they moved to re-establish overseas travel links and lift the hurdle of quarantine for visiting foreigners. Hong Kong’s Commerce Secretary and Singapore’s Transport Minister said the scheme would begin with one flight a day into each city, with a quota of 200 travellers per flight. This would be increased to two flights a day into each city from Dec. 7. People walk across a street at Mong Kok, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Hong Kong, China November 10, 2020. REUTERS/Lam Yik If the COVID-19 situation deteriorated in either city the travel bubble would be suspended, they said. Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said he believed t...

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Declining revenue, high cash burn rate compel airlines to cut jobs

UPENDRA SWAMI

October 22, 2020555 Views

Decline in revenue-passenger kilometre and high cash burn rate are compelling various airlines to cut jobs. Now Cathay Pacific Airways is cutting over 5,000 jobs in Hong Kong and closing its Cathay Dragon brand. Cathay Pacific joins a growing list of airlines, which have been cutting jobs or plan to do so. Recently, Singapore Airlines and Qantas Airways reduced their workforce by 20% and 30%, respectively. Airlines across the globe are going through the most severe crisis that they have ever encountered. Compared to the impact of SARS on the aviation industry, the monetary impact of COVID-19 is expected to be 45-50 times higher. Animesh Kumar, Director of Travel and Tourism Consulting at GlobalData, a leading research and consulting company, said: “Several countrie...

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Hong Kong Tourism Board launches a Standardised Hygiene Protocol

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 9, 20201620 Views

Hong Kong has led the way in introducing anti-virus measures since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, with citizens and businesses working together to adopt some of the world’s most stringent hygiene measures. Businesses in the tourism sector have been particularly active in implementing hygiene measures supported by advanced cleaning technologies into their daily operations. Now, in a significant stepping up of the city’s fight to control the virus, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has launched a standardised hygiene protocol in partnership with the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA), one of the leading conformity assessment bodies in the territory. The protocol aims to provide a unified set of guidelines on hygiene and anti-epidemic measures for tourism-related ...

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Yoga in the aquarium : Hong Kong Ocean Park has new offerings

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 8, 2020822 Views

Against the vivid backdrop of a giant aquarium filled with sharks, manta rays and other aquatic life, a yoga group on Thursday performed side planks, chair poses and lunges, their arms outstretched to the ceiling. Hong Kong’s cash-strapped Ocean Park has begun offering fitness activities such as yoga, meditation and dance classes to keep its flagging business afloat and offset deep losses due to coronavirus restrictions that have battered tourism in the Asian financial hub. Yoga instructor Jessica Lee said the fish in the aquarium were a calming presence during her class. “It’s really nice to be almost at one with them,” she said. “I feel as if I am in the water, moving as fluidly as they are.” The 43-year-old theme park and Walt Disney Co’s Hong Kong Disneyland have been shu...

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Hong Kong government ends Disney’s option for expanding theme park

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

September 23, 2020463 Views

Walt Disney Co will lose its option to buy a plot of land next to its Hong Kong theme park that was to allow for future expansion after the city’s government said on Wednesday it would not extend the option due to current economic conditions. The announcement comes as the Chinese-ruled hub tries to bolster its flagging economy and badly hit tourism sector, which was impacted heavily by anti-government protests last year and more recently, the coronavirus. In a file photo, men wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk behind a closed gate at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in Hong Kong, China. REUTERS/Lam Yik Hong Kong’s Disneyland resort is owned by a joint venture, Hong Kong International Theme Parks Ltd (HKITP), of which the local government ...

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Now walking tours go online in Hong Kong

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

August 24, 2020473 Views

A Hong Kong tourism company has moved its walking tours online to reach a travel-starved audience unable to explore new places due to coronavirus restrictions. The company, Walk in Hong Kong, runs free online tours in Cantonese focussed on local history and culture, with help from government subsidies and private donations. While bookings for its regular in-person tours typically took a week to fill, one recent virtual tour filled 70 spots overnight. It now plans to run such tours in English for an overseas audience on a permanent basis. It expects to start charging around HK$100 ($13) per person from next month. The tours are filmed with a phone and a gimbal and are interactive, with specialist guests such as architects available to answer questions. Eight people are working...