A lawmaker has urged the government to ease Covid rules for the travel industry, allowing them to make profit by launching local tours, instead of relying on government handouts.
Tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said allowing the sector to run profitable local tours can at the same time put coach drivers back to work, thus reducing their dependence of businesses on official relief measures.
The industry was one of the hard-hit sectors amid the Covid-19 pandemic, under which officials shut the city's borders to tourists for much of the year and limited local activities.
Yiu said he had brought the matter to Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah yesterday, along with representatives of the industry.
“The industry is willing to follow guidelines and conditions imposed on them, including compulsory testing every fortnight, thorough disinfection of tour coaches or even making the itinerary fall in line with the social gathering ban,” he said.
He added that the industry also welcomes the idea of having practitioners of the industry to be vaccinated, hoping the next step will be the reopening of borders or establish travel bubbles to bring the industry back to life.
The industry was one of the hard-hit sectors amid the Covid-19 pandemic, under which officials shut the city's borders to tourists for much of the year and limited local activities.
Yiu said he had brought the matter to Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah yesterday, along with representatives of the industry.
“The industry is willing to follow guidelines and conditions imposed on them, including compulsory testing every fortnight, thorough disinfection of tour coaches or even making the itinerary fall in line with the social gathering ban,” he said.
He added that the industry also welcomes the idea of having practitioners of the industry to be vaccinated, hoping the next step will be the reopening of borders or establish travel bubbles to bring the industry back to life.