With the halt of the special transportation service from Hong Kong International Airport to Macau arranged by the Tourism Crisis Management Office, the only way residents can now return to Macau is through mainland China. This route is only viable for those who possess a safe-conduct document, tourism board representative Inês Chan said yesterday during the daily press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center.
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) representative revealed the information after a question from the media about the chartered vehicle arrangement, which was used to transport residents who had arrived at Hong Kong International Airport in the last 15 days and required special assistance to reach Macau due to restrictions imposed by the neighboring region.
The service, which ran via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, stopped at midnight on March 31.
“It is very difficult to reply to this question. It will depend on which countries or regions the Macau residents are located as different countries have different measures of prevention and control, and also different restrictions,” Chan said. “For those with safe-conduct [documents] and who have the possibility of arriving in a city in the mainland first, and then can reach Macau through China, this is a possibility. But for those who don’t have a safe-conduct [document], then there is no way [to reach Macau].”
The official also noted that situations are different from person to person, depending on which travel documents they possess, where they are located, specificities such as airline policies, and other variables that are almost impossible to control.
“Measures are being changed on daily basis and airlines are also changing their policies accordingly,” she said.
Chan noted that those who have already acquired tickets to travel might be prevented from doing so due to policy changes regarding their departure point, final destination, or even stop-overs. She advised residents to reconsider all travel plans at this moment.
When evaluating the work that was done to assist all those that managed to arrive in Hong Kong in the 15 days that the special transportation service was operating, Chan recalled that over the two phases of the operation, the service carried a total of 2,136 people into Macau, including the 129 expected yesterday. This figure still needs to be verified.
Chan highlighted the large amount of bureaucracy in the way, and tasks that needed to be performed by both the local and Hong Kong authorities to make this operation successful. She praised everyone involved, despite criticism of what some considered to be an exaggerated length of time needed for all the clearances and procedures so the transportation service could be managed.
The MGTO official recalled that the “special corridor” was used for 15 consecutive days from March 17 until March 31. She said that the service must not be considered a right, but as humanitarian work performed by the two Special Administrative Regions so that Macau residents would not be stranded at Hong Kong International airport and could return home. It was a temporary and strictly limited measure that cannot be continued indefinitely, Chan explained.
“We cannot continue [to assist] because countries have taken many measures to contain the disease outbreak, including border closure and others,” Chan said. “We can’t ask for all the support that the Hong Kong authorities gave to bring Macau people back without establishing a limit.”
According to the MGTO official, one of the restrictions enforced by airlines at the moment is preventing airline counter check-ins for people traveling to Hong Kong who do not possess Hong Kong residency ID cards.
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