Recently, a big event happened, and Singapore surpassed Hong Kong to become an Asian financial center! In the latest Global Financial Center Index report, the world's three major financial centers were changed to New York, London and Singapore, and Hong Kong ranked fourth.

Source: Zhigu Trend (ID: zgtrend) Author: Zhenguzi

Recently, a big thing happened, Singapore surpassed Hong Kong to become an Asian financial center!

In the latest Global Financial Center Index (GFCI) report, the world's three major financial centers were changed to New York, London and Singapore, and Hong Kong ranked fourth.

, Hong Kong, which is also an East Asian resource hub, may be in a hurry.

This is why Hong Kong announced that from today (26th), the hotel quarantine of passengers will be lifted, and the epidemic prevention measures will be changed to "0+3" , that is, passengers will be given a three-day "yellow code" after arriving in Hong Kong, limiting the scope of action, and can only act freely after the last nucleic acid test is negative.

Coincidentally, on the 24th, Macau also officially announced that will resume electronic sign-on processing with the mainland, and will resume the implementation of the mainland tour group that has been suspended for nearly three years in November. Four provinces and one city including Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian will be restored first.

Under the complex situation, Hong Kong and Macao are scrambling to relax epidemic prevention restrictions. What signal is behind it?

Hong Kong Chief Executive Li Jiachao said at a press conference last Friday that as the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong gradually stabilizes, the epidemic prevention measures for overseas passengers arriving in Hong Kong will be changed from the current "3+4" to "0+3".

Specifically, after arriving in Hong Kong, passengers will receive a "yellow code" for three days. During this period, they can go out to work and shop, but they are not allowed to enter specific places such as restaurants and bars. At the same time, they only need to be quarantined at home for three days. After obtaining a negative nucleic acid test certificate on the third day, they can change from "yellow code" to "blue code".

In addition, after arriving in Hong Kong, passengers undergo nucleic acid test at the airport, they can choose their own means of transportation to leave without waiting for the results.

After Hong Kong announced the relaxation of measures, Ctrip's data showed that flight orders landed in Hong Kong increased by 155% compared with the previous weekend! , and the number of air ticket bookings from Hong Kong has increased by five times compared with the previous week!

Most orders from Hong Kong, booking travel time is the "National Day" holiday and Christmas, and short-distance travel routes in Asia are the most popular. The top five flight destinations are Bangkok , Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka . Especially in Osaka, air ticket orders soared 7,300% from the previous weekend.

This also has a lot to do with Japan's latest policies. On the evening of the 22nd, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio suddenly announced that Japan had completely relaxed its free travel, and at the same time, the upper limit of the current 50,000 entry number was cancelled, and the regulations that all foreigners must apply for visas to enter Japan were cancelled, and the entry treatment of visa-free countries was restored.

Faced with frequent depreciation of currencies and inflation that still cannot be supported, this big East Asian country can't hold it in the end. We hope that the recovery of the tourism industry can push up consumption and inflation and drive the economy to run.

However, Japan's announcement of opening may be good news for Hong Kong citizens, but for the Hong Kong government, Japan, a competitor of East Asia's popular tourist destination, is taking greater steps, and obviously there will be no less pressure and anxiety.

Last week, there was actually one thing that was more significant than the revelation of Hong Kong's change from "3+4" to "0+3", that is, the epidemic press conference where the Hong Kong government regularly releases epidemic data every day has ushered in the finale.

24, Zhang Zhujun, director of the Infectious Diseases Department of the Hong Kong Government, said at the press conference that today will be the last press conference, and will change it to a press release in the future to release infection data, and thanked more than 7 million Hong Kong citizens for their cooperation over the past two years. The huge signal behind this is that the Hong Kong government's epidemic prevention is not only focusing on the number of confirmed cases, but also becoming more targeted, including focusing on the intensive care rate, mortality rate, vaccination rate and hospital bed usage rate.

Now the average instant effective transmission of local cases in Hong Kong has dropped to around 0.8. It can be clearly seen from the chart that the infection speed has dropped to a higher level.

In addition, the number of new infections has also dropped sharply since September, from an average daily infection of more than 10,000 to less than 3,000.

As for the new crown vaccine vaccination rate, as of September 25, the proportion of Hong Kong who received two shots of vaccines was 91.8%, and 77% of Hong Kong people had completed three shots of vaccines.

Since all of them have been "0+3", when will it be "0+0"? Kong Fanyi, an expert consultant to the Hong Kong government, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Department of Internal Medicine of the University of Hong Kong Medical College, and clinical professor, believes that if the epidemic does not rebound significantly after two to three weeks of the implementation of the new measures, there will be a chance to implement a policy of quarantine exemption.

It is worth noting that this adjustment does not mean that the customs clearance between the Mainland and Hong Kong has been substantially promoted. However, as the epidemic is gradually under control, this day will definitely come soon.

While waiting for customs clearance with Hong Kong, the people of the south can go to Macau for a walk first.

On the morning of September 24, Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng announced at a press conference on the measures to benefit Australia that he would resume electronic visa processing with the mainland, and the mainland travel groups that have been suspended for nearly three years are also expected to resume implementation in November this year, including Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian.

Due to the epidemic, mainland tourists still have to go to the on-site to apply for visas to Australia. It takes about a week to successfully apply for it, and cannot be handled quickly and self-service through machines like before the epidemic. The cumbersome certificate application has also become an important reason for the reduction of mainland tourists' intention to visit Australia.

restores mainland tour groups, which is an absolute major benefit. Data from the Macau Tourism Bureau shows that the Mainland is the most important source of Macau tourists. In 2018 and 2019, tourists from the Mainland accounted for 70.6% and 70.9% of the total number of visitors to Macau.

More than half of the mainland tourists who go to Macau are travel groups. The mainland travel groups to Australia have recovered, and it can be said that the entire Macau tourism industry can flourish.

The tourism industry recovers, and there is a chance to pull the sluggish gambling industry from the ground.

When Hong Kong was sighing about its former position as an Asian financial center, Macau also faced the situation of rebuilding the "money printing machine" of the gambling industry.

data shows that Macau's casino revenue in 2020 was only 60.4 billion yuan, and in 2021, 87 billion yuan, down nearly 80% and 70% respectively from before the epidemic; casino revenue in the first eight months of this year was only 28.8 billion yuan.

revenue declined, which also affected the credit of gambling companies, and related bonds were sold.

Wynn Macau Co., Ltd.'s US dollar bond price has plummeted to 68% of the face value, which is close to the level that non-performing debt usually has.

In 2019, the added value of Macau's gaming industry was 292.46 billion Macau dollars, accounting for 50.9% of Macau's GDP that year. In Macau tertiary industry , the gambling industry accounts for half of the market. stabilizes gambling income through tourism recovery, which can drive the recovery of Macau's economy.

The common concern behind Hong Kong and Macao's traditional outward-oriented economic model has encountered unexpected changes.

But because of this, how to prepare for the future to build a new "moat" for Hong Kong and Macao is a more profound impact than whether it is open at the moment.

The key word for breaking the deadlock in Hong Kong is science and technology innovation.

The past success of Hong Kong is in a nutshell. In short, it is a good role as an intermediary who can provide value. Whether it is re-export trade or financial services, it essentially uses professional skills and labor resources to contact things and communicate with China and abroad.

In this sense, Hong Kong is also a resource-dependent region, but the resource of professional skills is invisible and intangible. To break the deadlock, Hong Kong must provide new value to the mainland and the world, that is, it condenses professional and intelligent technological innovation capabilities.

What's more, a major feature of developing technological innovation is intelligence. It is a good choice for Hong Kong, where every inch of land is valuable and labor prices are not cheap.

The keyword of breaking the deadlock in Macau is diversity.

is easy to understand. How to reduce the impact of the gambling industry, which accounts for half of the tertiary industry, is a problem that Macau must face.

On September 23, a special meeting of the Central Leading Group for Hong Kong and Macao was held. In the press release of less than 600 words, the eight big words "Economic Moderately Diversified Development" appeared 6 times in total:

"The central government will give full support in infrastructure construction, important people's livelihood projects, moderately diversified economic development, etc.,"

" It has been one year since Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone was officially listed. The original intention of construction is to create conditions for the moderately diversified development of Macau's economy."

...

Hengqin may open up new ideas for Macau's "moderately diversified" development, and Shenzhen and Hong Kong will also join forces in the northern metropolitan area.

A new round of crossing the river by feeling the stones has begun.

But we have confidence. In the past few days, these two special zones have explored new possibilities for China again and again. This time, of course, there will be no exception.

Reference:

Interface News: Macau is expected to resume mainland travel groups traveling to Australia in November and electronic visa processing

Asian Technology Telecommunications: Singapore has become the world's third largest financial center

Behind the opening of tourism in Hong Kong and Macao: Hong Kong was overtaken by Singapore, Macau gambling bonds were sold

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