Online users kept waiting for hours on airline website as Hong Kong ticket giveaway begins

Hong Kong Airlines website paralysed by surge in visitor traffic as carrier rolled out 6,000 round-trip ‘zero-dollar’ tickets to Hong Kong from Bangkok, Hanoi and Manila. Lucky draw part of the city’s ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign, which will give away at least 500,000 airline tickets, with the first round targeting South-East Asian markets. — SCMP

Visitors from South-East Asia hoping to register for a draw for free airline tickets to Hong Kong were forced to wait online for more than two hours on Match 1, as city-based carriers Hong Kong Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways began rolling out the tourism-boosting giveaway.

The much-awaited lucky draw is part of the city’s “Hello Hong Kong” campaign, which will give away at least 500,000 airline tickets, with the first round targeting South-East Asian markets.