This city is about to give away half a million airline tickets. Here's why

Hong Kong Airline Tickets: The entire campaign will include over 200 events to underscore the city’s return, South China Morning Post reported.

Hong Kong is planning to announce the details of a plan to distribute 500,000 air tickets which will be part of a global publicity campaign set to be unveiled. Hong Kong's leader John Lee will oversee the launch of the Hello Hong Kong campaign, Bloomberg reported quoting a government statement.

Hong Kong Airline Tickets: A woman uses an umbrella to shield herself from the sun in Hong Kong. (AFP)

The entire campaign will include over 200 events to underscore the city’s return, South China Morning Post reported as most of the half-million free air tickets will be distributed by Cathay Pacific Airways and its airline HK Express. Some will also be handed out by travel agencies to international tourists, the report said.

The aim of the initiative to revive the economy of the city as well repair its global image following the violent protests in 2019, and repair the city’s global image which was damaged by often-violent protests in 2019, putting in place of strict security laws in 2020 and three years of isolation amid the Covid pandemic.

The tickets will be given to travelers in Asia including China, as well as Europe and the US, with a “small portion” going to local residents for overseas travel, the report said.

In 2022, Hong Kong received almost 605,000 visitors as the city slowly dropped its Covid restrictions, which was higher from 91,000 in 2021, Bloomberg reported. But before the pandemic hit, the city was visited by almost 56 million people as Hong Kong was Asia’s busiest international airport then.

The move is part of many initiatives that Hong Kong has taken to boost tourism as Covid testing requirements and a quota system for Chinese visitors are set to be dropped, while three more border crossings will also reopen after almost three years.