HONG KONG – China and Hong Kong will start quarantine-free travel as soon as January, local media outlet HK01 reported.

A proposed timetable has been outlined for the long-awaited border reopening, which can be implemented as soon as early January, the report added, citing unnamed people from the Guangdong health commission.

One of the earliest days under the proposal will be Jan 9, the report said. 

The resumption of tourism from the mainland would be a boon for Hong Kong’s economy, which has been hobbled by more than two years of Covid-related border restrictions. The city could see an estimated 7.6 per cent boost to its gross domestic product from China’s reopening as exports and tourism income climbs, Goldman Sachs Group economists said Monday. 

In another sign from senior Chinese officials that China is emerging from its Covid Zero isolation, the country’s ambassador to the US said Monday that it will welcome more international travellers in the “near future”. 

China has rapidly dismantled its Covid Zero regime in recent weeks, amid a rising economic cost and unprecedented social unrest. A national mobile app that was previously used to track people’s travel history will be scrapped from Tuesday. 

The South China Morning Post reported on Saturday that there is “a good chance” of a “large-scale” pilot program for quarantine-free travel before the Lunar New Year holidays, which start on Jan 22. 

The border with mainland China has been effectively closed since February 2020. Visitors from Hong Kong are limited by a daily quota, while they also have to undergo five days of hotel quarantine.

That has cut the city off from its vast hinterland as well as drastically reducing the number of visitors. In 2019, there were more than 236 million passenger trips via land crossings across the border.

Hong Kong’s leader John Lee said on Sunday the government will conduct a full review of the city’s Covid-19 measures, including the city’s Leavehomesafe app used to enter venues, and he expects to get a report “soon”. Reducing restrictions on people crossing the border is a priority, he told reporters, without giving any timetable for resuming quarantine-free travel. 

Hong Kong’s government said the exact date for quarantine-free travel with China is still unknown, the HK01 report said. BLOOMBERG