I just spent the weekend in Hong Kong, flying up on Friday morning and returning Sunday night. Pre-Covid and pre-2019 protests, Hong Kong was one of my favourite destinations for quick getaways. The food is of course the main draw for me, although the shopping isn’t too bad either (especially since GST just went up here in Singapore). When Hong Kong announced a full reopening with all quarantine/movement/arrival testing restrictions removed, I decided to plan a trip up. Relatively low hotel rates made it an attractive destination. An added bonus was that Singapore Airlines deploys the A380 to Hong Kong, so it was a good opportunity to get on an A380 for the first time in over 3 years.
Honestly, it was great reacquainting myself with a city I haven’t visited in nearly 4 years. It was fun revisiting many old favourites. Thankfully, many things have remained the same, though sadly some food joints I used to enjoy have shuttered permanently.
I thought I’d share a few quick impressions from my lovely weekend getaway in Hong Kong:
Arriving is just like pre-Covid
While Hong Kong still has a requirement for pre-departure testing (PDT), the administration of this is quite relaxed. For those going the rapid antigen test (RAT/ART) way, a photo of a negative test is sufficient. That’s exactly what I did. I self-tested at home within 24h of departing for HKG and took a photo of my negative RAT. I was not asked for any evidence of a pre-departure test, neither by Singapore Airlines in SIN or immigration on arrival at HKG.
To be clear, I’m not saying it’s not necessary to do it; you should do it and keep a record. The various official channels (HK govt, HK Airport) that provide information on the requirements do say inbound travellers may be asked at random for PDT results, so do ensure you have some evidence of a negative PDT on hand. However given the lack of checks, there’s absolutely no reason to get an expensive PCR test to fulfil the requirement.
The vaccination requirement was already lifted effective February 6. There’s a voluntary online health declaration, but again not necessary to submit.
Since no one asked me for a test result, the arrival process was as straightforward as it’s always been. Immigration was extremely quick despite a bit of a queue. The immigration officer asked no questions, and I was through within seconds. With the relatively low volume of flights still, baggage was quick too. We landed at 11.42am, and were out of the restricted area with checked baggage 30min later. That’s taxi time (10min), walking to and clearing immigration, a toilet stop and waiting for checked bags. Utterly efficient, as HKIA has usually been.
The mask mandate is very real
I’ll begin by saying that I generally don’t mind mask wearing, though it is uncomfortable at times. Still, I’d rather have some level of protection, especially when overseas. Regardless of local regulations and travel insurance, I don’t want to get sick overseas if I can help it. Hong Kong has a mask mandate in place still, and I don’t mind it one bit.
The mask mandate is rather strictly adhere to by locals. I should note that foreign visitors seem to follow it too, not always a given. At the Conrad Hong Kong where I stayed, staff did remind guests to wear their masks at the buffet lines, and also when moving around the public spaces. Basically whenever not eating or drinking. I’ll admit it’s a bit pointless for such a rule when they didn’t mind guests sitting in the lounge for hours nursing a drink or two, with mask off throughout. The hotel still provided masks, and staff would pass extras to guests if a guest had forgot one.
In restaurants, diners (both local and foreign) were quite diligent in putting their masks back on once done eating. I won’t discuss the science and value of that action having already been in close proximity with other maskless diners for the last >30min, but the rule is what it is. At least everyone, locals and visitors alike, comply as necessary. If you’re planning to visit Hong Kong soon while the mask mandate is still in place, just make sure you’re adequately prepared to adhere to it too.
Less crowds, for now
This is quite typical of recently reopened places, but I was still rather surprised and pleased to see that visitors (and I include mainland Chinese in this group) were still not back in great numbers. This is even with the quota on cross-border travellers having been removed earlier this month. Naturally, low visitor numbers of course make for a better travel experience.
I visited a few popular food joints, almost none of which had queues. The only exception was at Yat Lok (famous roast goose restaurant), but that was probably because I was there near the tail end of lunch time. I also visited The Peak in the evening. Pre-Covid, there used to be massive queues for The Peak Tram in the late afternoon and early evening. To my surprise, we were able to stroll through to the tram platform with ease using our pre-purchased tickets. The Peak Tram had just completed a refurbishment in August 2022, so it was nice to enjoy the refreshed experience with almost no crowd.
Conclusion
Hong Kong has fully reopened and it’s a good thing. Travelling there, in my experience, was extremely painless and felt just like the old days, with the benefit right now of reduced visitor numbers.