HIST4702 (2022-23) Digital History Project: SARS in Asia
Data: Hong Kong Economy and Tourism Recovery Measures
Recovery of Economy and Tourism
Hong Kong Economy Recovery Measures
In response, the Chief Executive of the HKSAR, Mr. Tung Chee-hwa, announced measures to alleviate the impact of SARS on the economy on 23 April, including but not limited to: reducing water and sewage charges, reducing some rents, reducing license fees, creating more jobs, etc. The total amount of financial allocation was about HK$11.8 billion. Tung said, “These measures have been formulated after careful consideration and are believed to address the short-term economic problems. In addition, the Government has also considered the impact of these measures on the financial markets.”[1] Thanks to these measures, Hong Kong’s GDP made a steady recovery in the third and fourth quarters of 2003.
The local stock market was dramatically volatile in 2003. Hit hard by SARS, the Hang Seng Index plummeted to a four-year low of 8,409 points on 25 April. As the epidemic gradually came under control, the Hang Seng Index began to rally significantly after mid-May and repeatedly rose to two-year highs towards the end of the year. With the signing of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, the implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme for Mainland visitors to Hong Kong, and the upturn in the US and regional stock markets, the market sentiment improved. After rising to a 28-month high of 12,594 on 12 December, the Hang Seng Index ended 2003 at 12,576, up 34.9% from the end of the previous year.[2]
Hong Kong Tourism Recovery Measures
From this, we can see that SARS has inevitably affected Hong Kong’s tourism market to a certain extent, but with the proactive actions of the Hong Kong Government, the overall impact has been relatively mild. In particular, after WHO de-listed Hong Kong as a SARS-affected area on 23 June, the authorities immediately launched a Global Tourism Revival Campaign to stimulate the recovery of the tourism-related industries, resulting in a rapid V-shaped rebound in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong. The significant increase in Mainland visitors in the second half of the year was one of the main reasons for the rapid recovery in tourism performance. New measures were introduced in phases from the end of July 2003 to allow residents of Beijing, Shanghai and eight cities in Guangdong to visit Hong Kong as individuals for the first time. By August, visitor arrivals had returned to a 9.6% increase, reaching 1.64 million, the highest single-month record at the time, followed by new records of 1.7 million and 1.79 million in October and December respectively.
All in all, with the swift response of the Hong Kong Government and the support of the Central Government, the enactment of a series of new measures led to a steady narrowing of the decline in Hong Kong’s tourism market. As the market showed a strong rebound in the second half of the year, the tourism industry recovered rapidly. In the end, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached 15.54 million for the year 2003, only a slight drop of 6.2% compared to 2002. This figure compares favorably with the double-digit declines recorded in other SARS-affected destinations in Asia, and demonstrates that Hong Kong’s tourism industry is on a sound footing.
[1] “People’s Daily Overseas Edition,” Apr 24, 2003, https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2003-04-24/06421013449.shtml
[2] “2003 Economy Overview,” Mar, 2004, https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B6XX00032003AN03C0100.pdf
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