The chief executive of Hong Kong's glitzy Mandarin Oriental hotel has said he wants the hotel's executive team to relocate permanently outside the city, citing China's zero-COVID policy which is wreaking havoc with freedom of movement.
Mandarin Oriental chief executive James Riley told the Financial Times it was now no longer feasible for his team to remain in Hong Kong.
"Increasingly, most of my key senior executives are now travelling or are outside Hong Kong," Riley told the paper.
"My chief operating officer, who’s based in Hong Kong, left 15 months ago. And I have no plan for him to come back because he can’t do anything here," he said.
“As a base from which to run a business it’s very, very poor today," he said. "You can’t go and visit a hotel or visit a customer or visit a potential owner. You can’t go anywhere."
A ban on public gatherings of more than two people began on Thursday, with the "LeaveHomeSafe" tracker app required to get into supermarkets, public markets, hair salons and places of worship, prompting long lines to form on the streets as people rushed to get a haircut before the restrictions took effect.
The gathering ban followed a "drastic deterioration of the epidemic situation in Hong Kong," the government said in a statement. The measures effectively only allow those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and who are willing to use the tracker app to go shopping or use other businesses.
The restrictions came as the city's government struggles to contain community transmission of the omicron variant of COVID-19 despite the ruling Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) insistence on a "zero-COVID" policy nationwide.
Foreign capital drying up
Law Ka-chung, visiting professor in finance and economics at Hong Kong's City University, said international companies appear to be increasingly unhappy with the city as a place to do business.
"It is understandable that businesses in the international finance and trade sectors don't want to see closed borders or travel restrictions," Law told RFA. "Hotels like [the Mandarin Oriental] may be among the first to be affected by such restrictions."
"It's not just about high-level executives coming and going; if nobody is allowed to come to Hong Kong, and nobody can leave, then what do you need a hotel for?"
He said people are gradually realizing that Hong Kong is no longer a world city, and foreign capital continues to exit the territory as a result.
"They can't compete with other locations if people are trying to do business in an unreasonable environment," Law said. "This will go on as long as [the authorities] want it to, and there's no appeal mechanism."
"It's costing businesses money every day."
A survey published by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in July 2021 found that more than 40 percent of 325 companies polled were either definitely planning to leave Hong Kong, or are thinking about it.
Three percent said they were getting out immediately, while 10 percent said they would do so by the summer's end, and 15 percent were planning to be gone by the end of the year. A further 48 percent said they would likely leave in the next 3-5 years.
Of those planning to leave Hong Kong, 62 percent included discomfort with the national security law among the reasons, while 36 percent said they feared it would affect the quality of their children's education.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.