The European Chamber of Commerce of Commerce in Hong Kong has reportedly prepared draft documents detailing its forecast for the city’s strict Covid policy and its impact on its status as an international hub.

Businesses should expect «semi-closed» borders for international travel, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing the internal draft documents, with reopening potentially occurring only in late 2023 or early 2024.

The draft report highlighted detrimental effects to Hong Kong’s appeal across the board including hits to its talent pool and attractiveness to international firms.

Record Exodus

The report anticipates that Hong Kong could experience an unprecedented exodus of foreigners and one of the largest from any city in the region in recent history.

In addition to the impact on its international status, this will also eventually limit Hong Kong’s potential to contribute to China’s economy, the report added, advising global companies to plan for a regional office in other Asian cities and also focus on retaining talented and skilled workers.

Findings and conclusions were based on «a few sessions organized with different parties» in the past several months.