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Under the plan, Hong Kong cruise departures will resume in late July at the earliest and passengers under the scheme will not have to undergo quarantine. Cruises have not been running since February last year when the coronavirus took hold of the city.
“We had a history of having an outbreak on board a cruise ship last year, therefore, we need to strike a balance between pandemic control and leisure,” he said, referring an
on a World Dream cruise ship.
“Having crew and passengers vaccinated is a trend widely adopted for this kind of tour.”
Crew on board must comply with stringent pandemic measures, such as undergoing compulsory quarantine upon arrival in Hong Kong, taking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and having received two doses of a
.
Commerce minister Edward Yau. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Passengers are also required to be fully vaccinated and must use the government’s contact-tracing “Leave Home Safe” app before and after boarding. They must be screened for the coronavirus 48 hours before boarding.
Crew members and passengers who are physically unfit for vaccination must present medical proof.
Those unvaccinated crew members are required to take a PCR test every seven days shoreside, and submit to testing every three days while on board.
Tourism has been virtually eliminated since the closure of all but three border checkpoints in Hong Kong.
01:54
Thousands held on cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus testing
Hong Kong will become the latest city after Singapore in Asia to launch such cruises. The journeys will venture into high seas but will not make any stops at other destinations for public health reasons. Britain recently announced similar voyages to launch this summer.
Hong Kong earlier ran a “flight to nowhere”, which flew passengers around the city without leaving its airspace.
In February last year, thousands of passengers and crew members were quarantined for days aboard the World Dream cruise ship in Victoria Harbour after some travellers and staff members reported having a fever or respiratory symptoms.
They were only allowed to disembark after everyone’s tests came back negative.
Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Pang Yiu-kai welcomed the return of high-seas cruises, which marks the first step for the industry’s recovery.
The board pledged to work with consumers and cruise lines to rebuild passenger confidence.
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