More than 30 restaurants have withdrawn from Hong Kong’s new dog-friendly dining scheme, while officers have issued 70 warnings during inspections since its launch, the city’s environment chief has said.
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said on Saturday that 31 restaurants had withdrawn from the scheme since it was introduced two weeks ago.
However, he stressed that the overall compliance level was “acceptable” and he was confident the “teething” problems would be gradually solved.
“The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has dispatched a team of 90 people and conducted 14,000 inspections in the two weeks since the scheme was launched, issuing 70 verbal warnings and receiving 65 complaints,” he told a radio programme.
“Some 31 restaurants have pulled out of the scheme, possibly due to problems with their positioning and customer base.”
The government initially granted permits to 940 restaurants and cafes after receiving more than 2,100 applications for a capped quota of 1,000 places.
The initiative has been welcomed by pet owners, many of whom noted that dining alongside pets was already common practice in mainland China, France and the United Kingdom, with several calling the move long overdue.