HONG KONG - About 1,350 travel agencies, or 80 percent of the total, have received a one-off subsidy of HK$ 80,000 each under the government’s relief scheme to help them tide over difficulties as the tourism industry has taken a serious blow from the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Under the Anti-epidemic Fund's Travel Agents Subsidy Scheme, each eligible travel agency may receive a one-off subsidy of HK$80,000

The Hong Kong government established the Travel Agents Subsidy Scheme as part of the HK$30 billion Anti-epidemic Fund approved in late February to help the travel industry cope with the sharp fall in tourist arrivals caused by the epidemic.

Under the scheme, each eligible travel agency may receive a one-off subsidy of HK$80,000.

Latest official figures show tourist arrivals in January plunged 52.7 percent from a year earlier to about 3.2 million.

Outbound travel has also be greatly curtailed as many travel agencies were forced to canceled group tours to the Chinese mainland and other countries and regions because of travel bans imposed to curb the spread of the virus.

The government has so far received about 1,700 applicants for subsidies from licensed travel agents, accounting for about 98 percent of the total, said a spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

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The spokesman said that the department aimed to provide timely assistance by adopting a simple and convenient application procedure. Friday was the deadline for application.

In addition, about 260 guesthouses have received subsidies from the Anti-epidemic Fund under another scheme.

Under the scheme, each eligible guesthouse may receive a one-off subsidy of either HK$50,000 or HK$80,000, depending on the number of their licensed guestrooms.

More than 98 percent of the 1,770 licensed guesthouses have registered for the subsidy scheme.

Chen Zimo contributed to this report