Coronavirus: online searches soar after Hong Kong says it will lift flight ban on 9 countries including US, UK and Canada

Name: Covid-19: Hong Kong to open schools, lift flight ban, cut quarantine time and suspend mass testing
Uploaded: 2022-03-23T23:00:32.000Z
Duration: 3 min 30 s
Description: Covid-19: Hong Kong to open schools, lift flight ban, cut quarantine time and suspend mass testing

Expedia says searches on its platform for flights to Hong Kong jumped 285 per cent in the 48 hours since city’s announcement on Monday

About 25 per cent of the searches are from Britain, 15 per cent from the US and more than 10 per cent from Canada, according to its data

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Commercial aircraft sit grounded at Hong Kong International Airport at an earlier stage of the pandemic. Photo: Felix Wong

Kathleen Magramo

Published: 7:00am, 24 Mar 2022

Searches on a leading travel booking site surged nearly three times on the back of news that Hong Kong will lift a coronavirus-related flight ban on nine countries next month, according to the online service provider.

Expedia said that in the 48 hours since the city on Monday revealed it would scrap the flight ban, searches on its Hong Kong website jumped 285 per cent, compared with the average data of the preceding seven days.

About 25 per cent of the searches came from Britain, 15 per cent from the United States, more than 10 per cent from Canada, 10 per cent from Australia and 5 per cent from the Philippines.

03:30

Covid-19: Hong Kong to open schools, lift flight ban, cut quarantine time and suspend mass testing

Flights from nine countries, namely Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the US, will now be able to resume from April 1 after being suspended since January 8.