What If Hong Kong Falls? The Worst-Case Scenario for Travel
Photo Credit: Hong Kong International Airport Terminal One. Hong Kong International Airport
Skift Take
As weeks of protests escalate in Hong Kong and Beijing weighs its options, it’s not hard to imagine Hong Kong’s successful tourism industry becoming a shell of its former self. Though the conventional wisdom from region insiders is that Hong Kong will prevail, the form that it will take is anyone’s guess.
What if Hong Kong falls? As in lost forever. Or it becomes another mainland city like Shenzhen or Shanghai.
It's outside of the realm of possibility for many, but as the worst protests since the 1997 British handover rage on, it is still a question on people's minds, particularly those in travel. The unspoken worry as protests escalate in Hong Kong is that Beijing will lose patience, clamp down hard once-and-for-all, and the one-country, two-systems bill is no more.
Even as two days of violent protests at Hong Kong's airport calmed on Wednesday and flights resumed, it was not hard to think of hospitality and tourism companies re-thinking new investments in Hong Kong, or relocating some operations altogether to other Asian cities.
It's a worst-case scenario, and the common view is it won't come to fruition. For one, China’s understanding of its own power and influence has changed since, say, the crackdown at Tiananmen Square 30 years ago: “It is more powerful, more confid
