In December 2022, Hong Kong finally removed the last of its COVID-19 travel restrictions, ending the need for on-arrival/Day 2 PCR tests and scrapping its Vaccine Pass system. Arriving travellers now enjoy complete freedom of movement from the moment they land, and mandatory masking aside, things are back to business-as-usual.
To celebrate the occasion, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has launched a World of Winners campaign with 500,000 plane tickets to Hong Kong given away worldwide, 12,500 of which are allocated to Singapore.
If you’re keen to throw your hat into the ring for the free tickets, here’s how it works.
World of Winners campaign
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| World of Winners Campaign |
HKTB’s World of Winners campaign for Singapore residents goes live on 2 March 2023, 12 p.m (SGT).
To take part:
- Visit the contest landing page and login to your Cathay account (you’ll want to do this beforehand and keep refreshing, since the site will no doubt be swamped)
- Answer a contest form with three questions
The first 12,500 entrants with correct answers will win a round-trip Economy Class ticket to Hong Kong. Each contestant can submit a maximum of one entry, and win a maximum of one prize only.
Winners will be announced on 20 March 2023, and each will receive a unique ticket redemption code via email. This must be utilised within one month from the date of issue. Tickets can be booked up to nine months from the issue date of the redemption code, and blackout dates apply.
Winners will still need to pay for taxes and surcharges on their “free” ticket, which comes up to S$175.50 (Update: Cathay Pacific revised its fuel surcharges effective 1 March 2023, so the co-pay is now S$192.30, or S$195.30 if you fly from 1 April 2023 when Singapore increases its Passenger Service and Security Fee by S$3).
For the sake of context, non-stop return budget flights to Hong Kong start from S$219, so I suppose you could think of this as “pay budget, get full service”.
A few other points to note:
- This contest is open to residents of Singapore aged 18 years and above, who are also members of the Cathay programme (formerly known as Asia Miles)
- Prize tickets have a minimum stay period of two days, and maximum stay period of seven days
- Prize tickets cannot be upgraded with cash or frequent flyer miles
- Prize tickets are not transferrable, and must be used by the winner
- Rebooking of prize tickets is possible, subject to a rebooking fee of HKD 1,200 (S$205; given this is so substantial, you’d better be sure of your dates!)
- Winners who no show for their prize ticket flight will not be able to rebook
- You will earn Asia Miles and Status Points on prize tickets
The full terms and conditions for the World of Winners campaign can be found here.
What to do now?
Given how popular Hong Kong was as a pre-COVID destination, I imagine contest day will be chaotic, to say the least.
At the risk of stating the obvious, you should sign up for a Cathay account now if you don’t already have one. And since time is of the essence, I’d highly recommend using a password manager to store and auto-populate your credentials, just to shave a few seconds off logging in.
In addition to this, ensure that the name on your Cathay member profile is up to date (i.e. it’s the same name you’d put on an air ticket). The contest form will auto-populate based on these details, and the last thing you want is to be editing it once the contest goes live.
Conclusion
The HKTB will be giving away 12,500 Cathay Pacific tickets to Hong Kong on 2 March 2023, 12 p.m, on a first come first serve basis to anyone able to answer three simple questions (at least I assume they’ll be simple).
Do note that you’ll still end up paying about S$175.50 out of pocket, so you should see this as a discount on your flight rather than a free flight per se.
Good hunting!
FCFS. GG
Bummer…..need to sign up Cathay FF account for lucky draw
one question, pls.
if I won and got a redemption code, but my family has 4 people, will all the 4 people get free tickets?
Of course not! They have to apply and win themselves as well
What a f stupid question lmfao
what if my family is the whole village?
Hardly worth the hassle. Plus both my wife and I would separately have to attempt this, and if one was successful and not the other only 1 ticket !
It might be worth trying if they were business class seats with no taxes. But an economy class seat and still paying taxes! Na, waste of time.
Wouldn’t mind going alone, HK is great for a solo trip
Do you mean one needs to select the travel period when you participate in the contest? Or this can be done once you won it?
nope- only when (if!) you win.
Do note your full name will be displayed to the public in the winner’s list
Hello, But for other nationalities and departure points will this offer be available? And if so, when?! Thank you for your answer! 🙂