Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament was for years a highlight on Asia's networking calendar for global bankers and their clients.
Now, organizers are pushing for a downsized version of the event this fall, reflecting the challenge the city faces to maintain its status as Asia's leading financial hub.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union is still waiting for government approval for its proposed "closed loop" for the 16 teams and support staff, modeled on the system used at the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year that sealed off athletes and other participants from the public, said Robbie McRobbie, its chief executive.
With seven days of quarantine for all arrivals, organizers are resigned to holding this year's tournament while missing the thousands of overseas visitors who in years past thronged the three-day event, which coincided with major business conferences and meetings.
Hong Kong officials have said they want to restore the city's reputation as a commercial hub, but they are caught between adhering to Beijing's strict pandemic controls and conceding to the demands of international businesses that the city end restrictions and join other developed economies in living with the virus.
John Lee, who takes over as Hong Kong's chief executive on July 1, promised in a local media interview a swift review of Covid measures to reduce the inconvenience for travelers -- although his incoming health secretary hinted on a radio program that quarantine would, at best, be shortened and not scrapped.
In any event, Mr. Lee said his priority is reopening Hong Kong's borders with the mainland first.
Meanwhile, regional rivals like Singapore have reopened and flagship events in Hong Kong are being moved online or relocated.
The struggle to hold in-person events this year and the lack of clarity around how the city plans to return to normal may hurt attempts to restore its standing as a hub.
The AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum, where leading private-market financiers met each year in Hong Kong before the pandemic, will be held in Singapore instead in mid-November.
Organizers are billing it as an opportunity for face-to-face, real-life relationship building. SuperReturn Asia, another private-equity conference usually held in Hong Kong, is also moving to Singapore in September.
CLSA Ltd.'s annual investor forum, where corporate executives once danced to James Brown and flocked to hear boxing legend Mike Tyson extol the virtues of keeping pigeons, will be held online in September for a third year after dropping plans to use a luxury hotel on Victoria Harbour.
AVCJ and SuperReturn Asia didn't respond to requests for comment. A CLSA spokesman said the company hoped to host a live event in Hong Kong next year.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's outgoing leader, said earlier this month that the city's quarantine measures have undermined its status as a hub. Authorities now hope a planned conference for top bankers along with the downsized Sevens tournament can begin to repair Hong Kong's reputation.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's de facto central bank, has invited global financial heavyweights to a meeting that could take place in November -- around the same time as the Sevens, according to people with direct knowledge of the plans.
No details about the conference have been made public.
The head of one global bank who has been invited to the conference said he won't consider attending if he has to quarantine -- something the HKMA, which doesn't control the city's border policies, hasn't been able to guarantee, according to people familiar with the invitations.
Seeking an exemption while the rest of the city is subject to those rules isn't attractive either, after such privileges granted to actress Nicole Kidman provoked local outrage, the people said.
Hong Kong's financial regulators have been supportive of the industry and the HKMA investment conference could help showcase the city's opportunities for wealth management and capital markets in mainland China, said Sally Wong, CEO of the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association, whose members include global fund managers in the city.
"But to be meaningful, Hong Kong needs to achieve quarantine-free travel by then," she said.
Hong Kong's hub status belongs to an era when the city could claim to be among the world's most globally connected.
In 2019, more than 70 million passengers passed through Hong Kong's airport. Last year's numbers were 98% below that level, airport data show. Flights were around a third of 2019's number, buffered by rising cargo volumes.
Traveling to Hong Kong is now only for the determined. Flights are patchy and prone to cancellation; there are arduous requirements to board planes and clear immigration on arrival; and there is a cutthroat scramble for limited rooms at designated quarantine hotels.
Seven days after arriving and passing multiple Covid tests, visitors may face hefty fines for even briefly removing their mask in public and must take a rapid antigen test to enter a bar -- where they might be subject to police checks to enforce pandemic rules.
At a high-end restaurant one recent Friday evening, customers were made to sit in silence while police checked staff compliance with a long list of requirements, according to several people who were there.
Catching Covid in Hong Kong presents another risk: an unwanted and extended holiday in a government isolation facility.
All that is one reason why the Hong Kong Sevens will target local fans this year -- though an exodus of expatriates fleeing Covid restrictions may have reduced that pool.
Mr. McRobbie said a brain drain of skilled workers from the conference and events sector poses another challenge.
"They've had no work in two years. They're now driving taxis or selling insurance or have left the industry," he said. "That's what's undermining our ability to bounce back."
Jing Yang and Natasha Khan contributed to this article.
