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With stringent immigration controls implemented by governments around the world, the year 2020 has seen global aviation and tourism industries grind to a complete halt. However, COVID-19 seems to have been the catalyst for the rise of local tourism around the globe. While the literature has long focused on the demand and supply of international tourism, the significance of local tourism should not be overlooked. This paper uses a novel and comprehensive mixed methods approach that considers 1) internet keyword search trends for tourist destinations, 2) news announcements on social media platforms, 3) ridership data provided by ferry companies and 4) participant observations in the field to examine the growth of local tourism in Hong Kong during the city's first and second waves of COVID-19, shedding light on the growth of rural, island destinations in the city. By investigating the trends and patterns of local tourism in Hong Kong, this article offers recommendations for policymakers and tourism stakeholders not only in Hong Kong but also around the world to facilitate the development of local tourism. The paper concludes by asking readers to consider the myriad possibilities of repositioning tourist destinations to offer alternative tourism forms that are more sustainable and can be resilient to negative events such as COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 global pandemic continues, and in Hong Kong numerous measures have been put in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus. One of the many facets of life that is being affected is education, with many face-to-face classes suspended and students having to go online for lessons. The virus continues to be active in the city, so our usual way of assisting secondary school students' character-building through visitation to elderly homes is restricted. Now we can only provide such service-learning in online mode. This paper explores how an online project helped adolescents in a boys' secondary school apply and adapt principles taught previously in their course dealing with positive character strengths such as kindness, love, social intelligence, gratitude, teamwork, and perseverance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As social inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic have been recognised, emerging research showed that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people may be additionally affected during the pandemic. This paper adds to the understanding of the experiences of LGB people during the pandemic with a focus on Hong Kong, where issues of space significantly influence LGB people's lives in this city with high population density. As part of a larger community study of LGB lives in Hong Kong, COVID-19-related impact on 434 Chinese-speaking LGB people was explored. Data collection was conducted from 20 May to 30 June 2020. Inductive thematic analysis of the open-text response survey data found that the LGB participants described both negative and positive impacts brought by COVID-19. Such impacts could be dimensionalised into those related to personal space and privacy, romantic and sexual space, and community space. It was also found that the experiences of COVID-19 among LGB people in Hong Kong were intersectional, along the lines of living arrangement and relationship status. Such findings make unique contributions to the emerging literature. First, there needs to be a more nuanced understanding of sexual minority individuals' experiences during COVID-19 across cultural contexts. Second, COVID-19 was described as having brought positive impact in addition to its widely known negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to other settings, COVID-19 infection and death rates in Hong Kong were very low until 2022, due to top-down interventions (e.g. quarantines, 'mask mandates') and community activation. However, in addition to these epidemiological circumstances, Hong Kong has also undergone significant social and political change stemming from the social movement beginning in 2019 through the enacting, and aftermath, of the National Security Law. We draw on registered birth and marriage data from 2015 through 2021 to explore how fertility and nuptiality changed after the social movement followed by the first four waves of the COVID pandemic. We describe how fertility and marriage rates have changed in Hong Kong and to what extent the changes are associated with the social movement and the COVID pandemic. We further disaggregate the fertility and nuptiality trends by Hong Kong-born and non-Hong Kong-born population, with a specific focus on migrants from the Mainland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following mass social protests in 2019 and the enactment of a national security law in 2020 in Hong Kong, a significant proportion of Hong Kong people considered migrating to another country. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic had spread rapidly around the world. This study examines investigate whether the migration intention and the planned timing of migration of Hong Kong people have changed with the COVID-19 pandemic situations both locally and abroad. We also examine if the impact of the pandemic might have varied with people's age, gender, education, and parental status. Data are from a random-sampled survey (N = 2,492) conducted in 2021–2022. We find that a more severe COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong is positively associated with one's migration intention. The migration intention of younger and more educated people is more strongly associated with the COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong. However, the COVID-19 situation in the UK is not significantly associated with one's migration intention. Among people who intend to emigrate, a more severe local COVID-19 situation is positively associated with uncertainty about the timing of migration. We conclude by highlighting the significance of global pandemics in shaping migration decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study examined the impact of mass protests on various Hong Kong individuals. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic data collected through extensive interviews and social media, the impacts of mass protests on social relationships, economic development, and mental and physical health of Hong Kong students, parents, and educators are discussed. Answers pertaining to why Hong Kong university students participated in mass protests and how their parents and teachers responded to their participation are found by examining their rationales for joining mass protests and the possible consequences they are facing in the present and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the nuanced and disaggregated role of state and civil society in the fight against COVID-19 in Hong Kong and Singapore through a comparative policy study. Hong Kong and Singapore provide two contrasting cases of state-society interaction under the framework of Political Nexus Triads (PNT). Hong Kong combats COVID-19 with greater dependence on its civil society and bureaucrats, while Singapore relies more on a state-centred approach. They represent the diversity of state-society relations and multiple configurational causality in the COVID-19 responses and question the efficacy of any single and contextless model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emphasis of risk has been recognized as a crucial component to effective and successful policy compliance amidst a crisis. Yet, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the impact of risk may fluctuate with the severity of the prolonged pandemic, and that the public consider not only public health factors when they choose but also whether to follow a COVID-19-related policy, perceived risk may not always lead to policy compliance. Two cross-sectional online surveys (during almost zero case period in late April to May, 2020 (Wave 2) and during the biggest outbreak in July, 2020 (Wave 3)) with convenient sampling were conducted to examine the dichotomous role of perceived severity and perceived susceptibility in influencing policy compliance in Hong Kong. A total of 1816 responses from local adults were collected (Wave 2: N = 564; Female % = 69.7%; Mean age = 39.4; Wave 3: N = 1252; Female %=68.8%; Mean age = 40.2). Although policy compliance is found to increase with the scale of the outbreak, results from path analyses showed that perceived susceptibility and perceived severity have an indirect role in policy complying behaviour when the objective risk is low. Risk variables, including attitude, knowledge, benefit and trust, have directly shaped policy compliance. More importantly, perceived severity boosts policy compliance but perceived susceptibility was associated with disobedience to public health policies. Meanwhile, Hong Kong citizens have a selective and conscious preference regarding the stringency of public health policy: They welcome more law and order, with increasing magnitude of penalty, but reject lockdown measures such as a curfew. Regression results implied that demography had a mild contribution to the acceptance of public health policies, with only the female gender being statistically related to higher policy acceptance. The findings of this study imply that boosting attitude, knowledge, benefit and trust would come more directly helpful in promoting public health policy compliance than emphasizing on risks alone. This study calls for further reflection on the traditional role of risk, especially perceived susceptibility, in mobilizing policy compliance to COVID-19-related measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-border services and support are becoming an increasingly important part of Hong Kong's social policy because an increasing number of its older citizens are choosing to live in mainland China. Unfortunately, with the recent outbreak of COVID-19, medical services for cross-border older adults have been blocked due to strict immigration controls. This article examines the effects of COVID-19 on these older adults, with a specific focus on the interruption of medical services and the remedial measures taken by the government and non-governmental organizations. It also discusses the prospect of delivering care for cross-border older people using telemedicine, which is considered one of the most important methods for overcoming space-distance and reducing the risk of cross-contamination caused by close contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]