Full-service Indian carrier Vistara which launched its first flight to Hong Kong on October 29 has issued an advisory for all its passengers to complete all pre-arrival formalities as mandated by the Hong Kong administration.

In a press statement, the airline has said that as per the Hong Kong Immigration Department, all Indian nationals intending to visit Hong Kong must first apply for and successfully complete pre-arrival registration online.

Vistara says that the Hong Kong Immigration Department has made it mandatory now in order to visit Hong Kong. Upon successful registration, the Indian national must print the computer-generated notification slip on an A4 size sheet and present the same at the Vistara check-in counter.

The statement adds that passenger details on the printout must match those in the passport. Without this notification, passengers will not be accepted for travel.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) says that preliminary visitor arrival to Hong Kong in July amounted to 3.6 million tourists, an increase of 31 pc from the previous month. According to the press statement by HKTB, average daily visitor arrivals were 116,000 while cumulatively, nearly 16.5 million visitor arrivals were recorded in the first seven months of this year.