Travellers stranded overseas and trying to return to Hong Kong share their nightmares
- Hours spent trying to rebook hotels, plans changing without notice and huge price hikes are the new normal for international travellers
- Four Hong Kong travellers share tales of woe about the impact of Hong Kong’s sudden tightening of quarantine rules
There was a time when the most pressing issue upon returning to Hong Kong was whether to take the Airport Express or brave an epic wait for a taxi. Current travellers juggle unimaginable costs, constant changes in entry requirements, emotional heartbreak and the solitary confinement of a 21-day quarantine.
For those attempting to return from countries including the United States, France, UAE, Thailand and Malaysia, things took a dramatic turn on August 16.
“The government has decided to upgrade the risk grouping of 16 overseas places to impose more stringent boarding, quarantine and testing requirements on relevant inbound travellers …” announced an official press release that day. The measures came into force just four days later.
Travellers who had been expecting to spend a week in quarantine suddenly had that period increased to three weeks. At the same time, the quarantine period for fully vaccinated people returning from medium- and low-risk countries was increased from seven to 14 days.
I only made the decision to travel [from Hong Kong] when the restriction was reduced to seven days of quarantine
The changes have left travellers around the world, including those who had planned to “wash out” – spend time in places classed as lower-risk than their initial departure point, to reduce their time in Hong Kong quarantine – despairing and struggling to find solutions.
Hotel bookings were redundant, flights had to be cancelled and everything from weddings to funerals, new jobs to new school terms, were going to be missed or had to be postponed.
