As Hong Kong gradually relaxes border controls against Covid-19, more Hongkongers are packing their bags for a long-anticipated holiday overseas.

The government scrapped the “amber health code” system for inbound travellers last week, meaning people coming into Hong Kong are no longer banned from regulated places like restaurants for the first three days after their arrival – even though they still have to do regular PCR and rapid tests.

The number of Hong Kong residents leaving the city has climbed to over 20,000 a day since last Thursday.

Yam, who was heading to Thailand on Friday, told RTHK that flights and hotel bookings are more expensive than before the pandemic.

“In terms of the flight tickets, the price has gone up quite a bit. I think it’s three times than the normal price,” she said. “It’s fine because it’s been a couple of years already. Everybody is looking forward to getting out of Hong Kong and having some fun.”

Ten-year-old Gracey was heading to Japan with her family.

“I’m a bit curious about the things that I forgot, like do seats on the plane have televisions. But I’m very happy that I can finally go to ski after so long,” she said.

A woman surnamed Lee was taking her three-year-old son on his first ever trip overseas. Lee said she was not troubled by the possibility of getting infected with Covid during their travels.

“The reason why we travel during Christmas is that all of us have got Covid within half a year. We have learnt that we have immunity and there’s a lower chance of getting infected again,” she said.