The Chinese New Year of the Horse kicked off at a restaurant in Richmond, BC with good news about tourism to Asia, at a dinner presented by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Korean Air.
While dining on a multi-course meal at the Fortune Terrace Chinese Restaurant, invited travel advisors learned that Hong Kong is on the way back to its former, pre-pandemic visitor status.
Yuen Kan Wong, a senior manager for the HKTB, reported that 2025 arrivals have reached 91% of the total number of Canadian passport holders who came to Hong Kong in 2018. The total that year was 377,992.
They also learned that the number of Canadians who came to Hong Kong reached 362,000 in 2025, a 13% increase over 2024.
Air capacity to Hong Kong is also on the way back, with currently between five and six flights a day from Canada to Hong Kong. That is 94% of pre-pandemic levels.
CNY dinner co-sponsor Douglas Yiu, the Korean Air sales manager at the Canada passenger sales office in Vancouver, reminded travel advisors that the airline will start a double daily service between Vancouver (YVR) and Seoul (ICN) as of March 29. Both flights operate using Boeing 787-10 aircraft.
These are the only B787-10 aircraft in use by a scheduled airline in Canada, and they offer the carrier’s latest Prestige Suites 2.0 in their business class cabins. The B787-10 is the largest version of the Dreamliner commercial jet, and Korean Air plans to deploy the double-daily service on a year-round basis.
The HKTB and Korean Air collaborated on the content of the grand prize. The winner got a free flight ticket for one on Korean Air from Vancouver to Hong Kong return, plus a free overnight in Hong Kong and a no-charge tour.
In the photos
Photo #1 — Fiona Wu of I&J Travel on the left, with (l. to r.) Ricky Poon of One Dream Travel, Yuen Kan Wong, senior manager for the HKTB; Marian Lam, owner of JBC Alliance; and Douglas Yiu, the sales manager at Korean Air.
Photo #2 — A flight ticket on Korean Air was the grand prize at the CNY dinner in Richmond recently.
Photo #3 — CNY dinner at the Fortune Terrace Chinese Restaurant in Richmond.
Photo #4 — Douglas Yiu, Korean Air sales manager in Canada, leads the proceedings.
Photo #5 — Guests enjoying themselves at the CNY dinner.
