The organizers added that visitor safety is the most important thing and that they will launch the fireworks from the top of the skyscrapers instead of from the port
The Hong Kong government announced the cancellation of the traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks show for fear that new protests will be unleashed in the streets of the British ex-colony. The Tourist Office of Hong Kong announced on Tuesday that it cancels for the first time this show, which is held every December 31 at the port of Victoria, after receiving a warning from the Police, according to which there is a “security threat” for the protests that have been happening in the city for six months.
“We have to wait for the order to be completely restored before implementing strategies to recover tourism,” said the executive director of the Tourism Board, Dane Cheng Ting, about the cancellation of the event, one of the most important claims of the season.
The organizers added that visitor safety is the most important thing, and that they will launch fireworks from the top of skyscrapers instead of from the port.
The months of protests have put Hong Kong’s economy in recession for the first time in a decade, after contracting 2.9% in the third quarter, affected by the drop in imports and exports, of retail sales and by the decreasing figures of tourism.
The number of tourists visiting Hong Kong has been declining since protests broke out: in November, the figure fell 56% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific reported on Monday new declines in the number of passengers who visited the island through this airline, the main one in the city.
The group published the combined Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon traffic figures for November 2019, which show a 46% decrease in the number of passengers and in the amount of cargo and mail transported compared to the same month of 2018.
“We continue to see a significant deficit in reserves, especially from mainland China and other regional markets, compared to last year. This deficit has been partially offset by the improvement of passenger traffic in transit,” said Ronald Lam, president of The company, in a statement.