I attended a small meeting about Hong Kong and China last week that was put on by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Bank of China. An attendee broached the question of safety for visitors to Hong Kong. The response from the speakers was that if you stay away from the protests, it should be a safe experience and that no one should be put off from going.
We received confirmation of that this week from a toy industry member who is currently in Hong Kong on business. The individual wishes to remain anonymous, but they have allowed me to print their email:
It really is not that bad. I did not see any protests. The hotel gave us a paper every night that shows where the next day protests are going to be- usually on the weekends. There is also a website that shows the demonstrations. You just stay away from those areas. They have damaged some of the turnstiles so they close some of the MTR but I just ask the hotel in the morning and they know which ones are a problem. The airport train was not running at all when I landed and when it does run it only goes to HK. The Kowloon airport station is closed. Airport was fine on the way in. On the way out they check you before you go into the airport so to not let any demonstrators in so that took an extra 15 mins. All in all it was fine. I feel bad for the people over there.. the economy is taking a big hit. My hotel came down in cost 2xs while I was there.
If you are in Hong Kong or have visited recently, write in and let us know your experiences.
