Shoppers throng the streets as city recovers from COVID-19

Hong Kong is bustling again, with its streets becoming increasingly crowded as life returns to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between Qingming Festival, which fell on April 5, and the Easter break that ended on Monday, more than 4.2 million people entered or left Hong Kong. It was the first long holiday since local travel restrictions were fully lifted.

Lines of travelers formed at the city's international airport, West Kowloon high-speed railway station and for shuttle bus services across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to neighboring Macao.

Only the sight of a number of passersby wearing face masks served as a reminder of the days when the city was in the grip of the disease.

In December, the authorities in Hong Kong began gradually relaxing social distancing measures. In February, border crossings with the Chinese mainland fully reopened, while last month, the compulsory wearing of face masks — the city's final COVID-19 restriction — ended, signaling a full return to normality.

The number of travelers has risen quickly. Daily average patronage of the Hong Kong section of the express rail link to Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, which resumed service on Jan 15, surpassed 23,000 passenger trips by the end of February. That month, the airport welcomed 2,146,000 passengers, a rise of over 2,392 percent compared with February last year.

Many large-scale international events have also returned to the city.

Early last month, the 39th International Jewellery Show attracted more than 2,500 exhibitors from a total of 36 countries and regions. In late March, thousands flocked to Art Basel Hong Kong, one of Asia's leading art fairs, to view works from 177 top galleries from 32 countries and regions. The Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, held from March 31 to April 2, attracted about 75,000 spectators.

Governmental and private sector exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland have also increased.

In late February, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu visited Guangzhou and Shenzhen on his first trip to mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area since he became the city's top leader last year.

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau visited Guangzhou separately last month to explore cultural and medical cooperation, respectively. Numerous Hong Kong social groups have also visited the mainland in droves for the first time in three years.

Hong Kong's hard-hit economy has revived, with the seasonal unemployment rate from December to February falling to 3.3 percent, down from as high as 7 percent during the pandemic.

In his budget speech in late February, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po estimated that the local economy would grow by 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent this year.

Policy scientist Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said Chan's forecast will not be difficult to achieve, as it is "relatively conservative".

Cheung, advisor (public administration) in the department of Asian and policy studies at Education University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, said that as the city's economy contracted by 3.5 percent last year, it is not hard for it to rebound.

In addition, with a range of industries recovering after Hong Kong fully resumed travel services with mainland and overseas destinations, local economic growth this year is likely to be more than 3.5 percent, Cheung said.