Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday the government is planning a promotion exercise next month to attract visitors and businesses to Hong Kong, as he expects the tourism industry to bounce back following the border reopening with the mainland.

Speaking ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting, the CE said resuming quarantine-free travel will increase the city's international connectivity, as overseas visitors can now go to the mainland via Hong Kong, and vice versa.

"The government is planning to do a big promotion exercise starting in February, because I think tourism will start to come back in February. It is the Hong Kong government's plan to launch a big promotion for attracting tourism and attracting businesses to Hong Kong, and we'll be working with the tourism sector and also the business sector to make promotion in their regard," Lee said.

On the border reopening which started on Sunday, the chief executive pointed out that around 17 percent of the slots for the coming eight weeks had been taken up via an online booking system, which he said showed the daily quota of 50,000 via land crossings could meet people's needs.

"It is the beginning of the new reopening of the boundary, then of course, people need to make plans to satisfy their own requirements. There's a period for adjustments," he said.

"We are not looking at just one or two single days, we are obviously looking at the reopening of the boundary crossing in the long run, and obviously this has been the desire and the wants of a lot of people, not just to satisfy family reunions but to ensure that the normal business, the normal activities can go about."

Lee also said the government will discuss with mainland authorities the requirement for children aged under three to present proof of a negative PCR test result upon entry to the mainland while those coming to the SAR are exempt.