Entry quarantine has been relaxed to "0+3" from today (26th), which may be good news for the tourism industry, but the catering industry, which relies on local guests during the epidemic, is worried that it will be further pressured.
Five catering business associations jointly signed a letter yesterday to Chief Executive Li Jiachao and Director of the Medical and Health Bureau, Lu Chongmao, asking the authorities to relax social distancing measures.
Huang Jiahe, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Catering Traders, accepted a radio interview today (26th) and admitted that the catering industry is in a weak stage. Under the current measures, it is expected that the business volume of the industry will drop by another 10% to 15% from now to the end of the year. , called on the government to ease epidemic prevention restrictions and introduce "0+0" as soon as possible.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, only 70% of the business is left in previous years
Huang Jiahe said that since the government announced the launch of "0+3", many Hong Kong people have chosen to travel abroad. He admitted that the peak season of the catering industry will be affected and its performance will be weak: "The Mid-Autumn Festival (turnover) is not as good as before. It means that 70% of the business is returned, which used to be as high as 400 million, but the family has to return 280 million, and they are also worried that the business is really weak, and the dine-in business at night is really not good.”
He worries that after the relaxation of entry quarantine, catering establishments are still subject to some epidemic prevention measures. As a result, a large number of Hong Kong people travel abroad for consumption. Impact: "From now to December, business has dropped by an average of 10% to 15%. This is a major challenge."
The second phase of consumer coupons was issued on October 1, and Huang Jiahe believes that it will not help the catering industry: "The last phase of consumer coupons increased the catering industry by 15%. I had high expectations this time, but after the launch of "0+3", I can see that some citizens are so excited that they immediately arrange outbound trips, and they are worried that some citizens will use their coupons to buy air tickets to travel together.” He hoped that the industry can still maintain 15% of the consumption amount this time, or increase it to 15%. 20%.
He called on the government to relax the measures regulating the catering industry as soon as possible, including relaxing to 12 people per table, canceling the 1.5-meter distance between tables, and relaxing the banquet number to 240 to 360 people.
In addition, he pointed out that tourists used to bring annual revenue of 10 billion yuan to the local catering industry. He hoped that the government could introduce "0+0" as soon as possible to attract foreign tourists to Hong Kong and ease the industry's predicament.
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