-For the first time very popular new Hong Kong’s event of New Year eve has cancelled The tourism board of Hong Kong confirmed its cancellation on Wednesday. Every year at midnight on 31st December Hong Kong celebrates New Year’s Eve (Fireworks cancelled in Hong Kong) in an amazing way. The city witnesses a great countdown for the new year, and an amazing firework of about 10 minutes when the new year starts. This event takes place at the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Main reasons behind this cancellation are-
Reason: The result of protests
The earlier protests of Hong Kong are now known by all of us. The anti-government protest initially started in June 2019 against the Extradition Law Amendment Bill ( ELAB). In this protest, about 6000+ people are arrested and about 2600+ people are injured. 2 people also died in this protest.
Public Safety The other reason
The chairman of the Tourism Board Pang Yiu-kai said: “ Public safety is our top priority as the fireworks can attract huge crowd gatherings around the harbour,”. These protests are harming the sanity of Hong Kong. The Tourism Board has decided to cancel the event. The management of bulk crowd is the certain reason behind this decision. Public are protesting since months and sometimes the protest turns out to be violent. Police is making all preparation to face the after effects of protests.
Nothing New
Its not the only celebration which cancelled due to protest pressure. Earlier this year in October, an event planned for marking the 70th Anniversary of the People’s Republic Of China also cancelled for the same reason. The list doesn’t just end here, the Hong Kong Tennis Open, Clockenflap ( biggest music festival of the city ), Trailwalking race and several other concerts also lost their scheduling.
Impact on tourism
The tourism of the city has declined, as a result of these protests. Last year this festival attracted more than 300,000 people (Fireworks cancelled in Hong Kong) on both sides of Victoria Harbour. An estimation states- the tourism is going to face a blow in 2020. There is no doubt that the loss of tourism is a major impact of trending protests.
The spokesperson of Tourism Board said that instead of the firework, a laser light show along the skyline will be done on new year’s eve at Victoria Harbour.