The Tourism Board on Wednesday said it may take a while to bring tourists back to Hong Kong after the latest easing of Covid-19 curbs the day before, with some Southeast Asian trade representatives calling for the further relaxation of coronavirus restrictions here.

About 60 guests from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore gathered at the West Kowloon Cultural District to join the board’s winter festival for an early taste of Christmas.

A representative from the Thai agency NS Travel & Tours, Tony Soorangura, said he expects 400,000 tourists from his country will visit Hong Kong next year thanks to the scrapping of amber code restrictions.

“When they travel, they want everything to be easy for them,” he said. “Even though Hong Kong opens up later than other countries, I’m sure Hong Kong will keep up.”

But a representative from the Philippines said more Covid curbs should be lifted for arrivals here, such as reducing the number of PCR tests they have to take.

"As long as there is the PCR and rapid antigen test, it’s kind of disheartening, because they will be always afraid that if they have a positive result, they will just be staying in the hotel. But of course once this is removed, it will be easier for the Filipinos to come back," said Dolly Santos, president of the agency Golden Sky Travel & Tours Corp.

Executive director of the Tourism Board, Dane Cheng, said while the latest round of easing is welcome, it may take some time to bring tourists back to Hong Kong as airlines ramp up their capacity.

He added that he hopes quarantine-free travel with the mainland can resume soon, given that a majority of arrivals here were from the mainland.

"We would very much like to see the reopening of our boundary with the mainland, that's the majority of our visitors, 80 percent of them are coming from the mainland. But of course things are happening in the right direction, something that we very much welcome," he said.

Cheng also said the board will roll out a global promotional campaign “Hello Hong Kong”, which will bring together industry representatives, social media influencers and the media to promote the city.