The Chamber’s Hong Kong We Can Do It! Lucky Draw is officially underway and offers the chance for the city’s vaccinated citizens to win a share of prizes worth over HK$43 million. Among the 6,000-plus prizes are Mercedes-Benz saloons, MTR annual passes, business-class air tickets, as well as shopping, dining and lifestyle vouchers.

Launched at the Chamber Theatre on 29 June, the Lucky Draw aims to encourage citizens to get vaccinated. Starting from 22 July, seven fortnightly draws will take place for all Hong Kong residents holding a valid HKID card who are aged 18 or above and have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in Hong Kong. 

“We are very grateful to our member companies who have sponsored this range of prizes to boost the city’s vaccination rate and help protect Hong Kong people,” said HKGCC Chairman Peter Wong. “This initiative is vital to enabling our city to get back to normal.” 

Once a substantial majority of people have been vaccinated, the city will reach herd immunity, and the danger from the virus will drop dramatically as it will not be able to spread within the community. This is essential for Hong Kong to be able to reopen.  

“The people of Hong Kong have demonstrated strength and determination in helping keep the Covid-19 virus at bay over the past 18 months,” Wong said. “We are now at the point where citizens need to take the next step of getting vaccinated if we are to reach our collective goal. Only then will we able to adapt and hopefully eventually remove the travel and social-distancing restrictions.” 

Jardine Matheson is among the major sponsors of the Lucky Draw, with prizes including three Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars, luxury staycations as well as hundreds of dining and shopping vouchers.

“We at Jardines hope very much that the attractive prizes we are contributing will motivate more citizens to take the vaccination and reward the lucky winners who have taken the two doses of vaccine,” said Dr YK Pang, Deputy Managing Director, Jardine Matheson. 

Swire Properties is another major local conglomerate that has stepped up with a generous donation of prizes to help encourage more people to get vaccinated. 

“We all want to get Hong Kong back on track and move forward together, and a high vaccination rate is crucial to our city’s full recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Guy Bradley, Chief Executive of Swire Properties.

“In this regard, we are delighted to partner with HKGCC and sponsor prizes for the Lucky Draw to help boost the local vaccination drive. By doing our part, we hope to help our staff, tenants and the people of Hong Kong get their lives back to normal as soon as possible.” 

Global and local impact

Around the world, more than 3.9 million people have died from Covid-19, and more than 180 million have been infected. While many people who catch Covid do not get seriously ill, others develop long-term complications leaving them unable to work or to live a normal life. 

Economies have also been devastated, and as an externally oriented city, Hong Kong has been particularly hit by the travel restrictions. This has affected businesses across all sectors, from hotels and restaurants to financial firms whose Hong Kong offices serve as global and regional hubs. The retail sector has suffered from both the lack of tourists and local people staying at home during outbreaks.

 “The impact of Covid-19 upon our business has been unprecedented, bringing about a severe disruption to our business operations as well as a huge blow to local consumer sentiment,” said Kam Shim Lau, Executive Director of Lifestyle International Holdings Limited, which operates the SOGO department stores. “In addition, Covid-19 has accelerated structural changes within Hong Kong’s retail market.”

To cope with the changes, SOGO has focused on staying flexible to catch the opportunities in a fast-changing retail landscape. But widespread vaccination is the only way the economy can get back to normal business operations and facilitate Hong Kong’s long-term recovery.

 “Once the majority of Hong Kong’s population is fully vaccinated, borders can re-open and business activities can gradually be restored to previous levels,” Lau said. “Due to Hong Kong’s status as an international world city, it is imperative that borders are re-opened so that Hong Kong can benefit from the projected resurgence of business and tourist travel that we currently see in other international cities.” 

Consistency and change

Keeping Hong Kong moving throughout the unprecedented disruption of the past 18 months has been our superb public transport network, including our rapid and efficient MTR system.  

“The health and safety of our passengers and staff are our top priority, and the MTR Corporation encourages its staff to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and fight against the pandemic with the community,” said Dr Jacob Kam, CEO of MTR Corporation.

The company has sponsored 500 MTR annual passes for the Chamber’s Lucky Draw. “We hope the incentive will help to encourage more people of Hong Kong to get inoculated,” Kam added. “We will stand with Hong Kong and together we will get through the trying times and win the war against the coronavirus.” 

The global impact of the pandemic has affected companies in just about every location and every sector. For Chevalier Group, which has a diversified portfolio of businesses in multiple countries, every segment has been affected in some way. 

“Getting Hong Kong’s vaccination rate up to the target 70% is the best way of protecting the people in the city and to bring our business activities and daily lives back to normality,” said Chevalier’s Non-Executive Director Oscar Chow. Chevalier has launched an internal incentive programme to encourage vaccination take-up among its own employees.  

It has also invested in workplace health and safety across the company to minimize risk for staff. Chow added that Chevalier also sees it as a corporate social responsibility to contribute to efforts to encourage vaccination.  

“The HKGCC Lucky Draw is the perfect platform for us to contribute to this cause, by pooling resources from the commercial sector together and amplifying its impact to get the best results,” he said. “We are very encouraged by the media coverage that this programme has received, which helps to get the message out.”

Businesses step up

The Lucky Draw is not the only way that companies are supporting the vaccination drive. Many businesses and organizations – including HKGCC – have followed the Government’s lead in offering “vaccine leave” to enable staff to recover. Although side-effects are very mild and short-lived in the vast majority of cases, some people say that this is putting them off getting their jabs. 

“We understand that some people are concerned that they may feel unwell after their vaccination, so we have given all our staff a day off to rest afterwards,” said Chamber CEO George Leung. “Staff members who have already had their vaccinations can enjoy two extra days’ holiday, to thank them for playing their part in the city’s recovery.” 

Hong Kong is one of the very few places in the world that has managed to prevent widespread community transmission of the Covid-19 virus. But when it comes to vaccination, we are now lagging behind. In the United States, Canada and the European Union, high vaccination rates are protecting the population and enabling economies to reopen.

Because Hong Kong has had relatively few Covid cases, some citizens are not in a rush to get their vaccinations. But this “wait-and-see” attitude means we run the risk of serious outbreaks down the line. 

“To truly defeat the coronavirus, we need to ensure that the majority of the community has been immunised,” said Leung.

“We urge all citizens to get vaccinated now – to protect themselves and the people around them, to help the city’s economic recovery, and to be in with the chance of winning one of our fantastic Lucky Draw prizes!”

Quick Questions

Who can enter the Hong Kong We Can Do It! Lucky Draw?

The Lucky Draw is open to all Hong Kong residents who are over the age of 18, have a Hong Kong ID card, and have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, before registering, in Hong Kong.

When will the Lucky Draws take place?

There will be seven draws, on 22 July, 5 August, 19 August, 2 September, 16 September, 23 September and 30 September.

Seven draws, do I have to enter seven times?

No. If you don’t win a prize you will automatically be entered for the next draws. 

What are the prizes?

There are more than 6,000 individual prizes, with a total value of more than $43 million, including cars, hotels stays and hundreds of vouchers for shops, restaurants and other attractions.

If I win a prize, what happens next?

The Chamber will send you an SMS message within 2 days of the draw. You will then need to book a timeslot on the HKGCC website to come and pick up your prize. You will have to show your SMS message, your Hong Kong ID, and proof of vaccination.

Please see the Hong Kong We Can Do It! Lucky Draw website for more detailed FAQs. 
www.hkgccluckydraw.com