It’s true,” he said.Īnne Kerr, the chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said more U.K. Foreign tourists are filling his restaurants, something he had not seen in three years, helping drive revenue to more than 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Mak Kwai-pui, co-founder of dim sum chain Tim Ho Wan, said his business is reaping some of the benefits. In the first quarter of the year, the city received 4.41 million visitors, about 12 times more than the previous quarter, and about 30% of pre-pandemic levels. Hong Kong’s government says things are back to normal, a message delivered in a tourism promotion campaign it calls “Hello Hong Kong.”Įconomic indicators seem to support that message: Retail sales are up, the country’s GDP is growing, and unemployment is at a low 3.1%. ![]() The government of Hong Kong used that law to arrest former opposition lawmakers and activists who participated in an unofficial primary election. But when it comes to anything political, the openness and freedoms that were once hallmarks of the Chinese-ruled former British colony seem permanently gone.įollowing the 2019 protests, Beijing declared, “patriots must run Hong Kong,” increasing its loyalists’ control over elections and imposing a National Security Law that criminalized many forms of dissent. In 20 interviews, many said that when they focus on business indicators and everyday life, they see a recovery gathering pace after years of travel restrictions. Living in Hong Kong today means juggling contradictory feelings. A supporter of the government, he watches what he says in front of friends to avoid starting fights. Leung sometimes doesn’t turn on the radio in his cab because the news or a public affairs program could get his customers cursing. ![]() Excited chatter returned to a dim sum shop at the high-speed rail terminus. Crowds of art collectors and dealers spilled across two floors of a convention center at the Art Basel Hong Kong fair in late March. Leung said, the city has been divided since the 2019 protests, in which hundreds of thousands of people marched, and many battled police, in opposition to a government they saw as a proxy for Beijing.įor the first time since the start of the pandemic, the city welcomed more than 2 million visitors in the month of March. He’s earning almost as much as he did before the pandemic. Like most people in Hong Kong, taxi driver Leung Tat-chong says it feels like the city is recovering after years of protests, crackdowns, and pandemic restrictions, while it also has changed forever.
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