HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 20, 2025--
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is hosting seven mega events, including Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair, Home InStyle and Fashion InStyle (27-30 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, HKCEC); the Hong Kong International Printing & Packaging Fair and DeLuxe PrintPack Hong Kong (held concurrently at AsiaWorld-Expo); and the Hong Kong International Licensing Show and Asian Licensing Conference (28-30 April at the HKCEC). The events are set to draw some 6,000 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions, serving as a bridge connecting Hong Kong's creative industries with Mainland China and international markets while reinforcing the city’s positioning as a regional creative hub.
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Gifts & Premium Fair celebrates four decades of wonder
This year's Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair marks its 40 th edition under the theme "Celebrating Four Decades of Wonder " , showcasing products that blend functionality with creative design. The Jingdezhen Pavilion will display ceramic works marrying traditional craftsmanship with modern design – from minimalist coffee cups and tea sets to a ceramic adoption programme that uses the popular blind box model to nurture the next generation of designers and artisans.
New pavilion captures silver economy opportunities
With the silver market growing rapidly and demand for elderly-friendly products continuing to expand, the Home InStyle introduces the Gerontech LivingPavilion that will showcase innovative products and solutions from more than 10 local enterprises. The popular Cultural and Creative Avenue has been upgraded and expanded, featuring more than 100 exhibitors from some 10 countries and regions.
Innovative fashion materials converge at Fashion InStyle
The 2025 edition of Fashion InStyle sees the launch of NEXT@Fashion InStyle, a new highlighted zone organised by the HKTDC and sponsored by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency (CCIDA) of the HKSAR Government, bringing together some 60 global material suppliers to showcase advanced fashion materials.
Two PrintPack fairs highlight sustainability and creative design
The Printing & Packaging Fair highlights eco-friendly products in its Green Printing & Packaging Solutions Zone, including recycled plastic yarn ribbons and water-soluble packaging peanuts, while DeLuxe PrintPack focuses on premium packaging solutions.
The events will feature approximately 60 thematic seminars, buyer forums, product promotion and launch events and fashion parades, covering market analysis, cultural creative design, smart industry, the silver economy, health and wellness, and sustainability.
Register Now:https://tinyurl.com/3t43cupe
The HKTDC is hosting seven vibrant events spanning lifestyle products and the licensing sector in late April, including the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair, Home InStyle, Fashion InStyle, Hong Kong International Printing & Packaging Fair, DeLuxe PrintPack Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Licensing Show and Asian Licensing Conference.
The HKTDC is hosting seven vibrant events spanning lifestyle products and the licensing sector in late April, including the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair, Home InStyle, Fashion InStyle, Hong Kong International Printing & Packaging Fair, DeLuxe PrintPack Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Licensing Show and Asian Licensing Conference.
TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.
The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.
Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.
“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.
“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”
The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.
According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.
The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.
As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.
Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.
On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.
Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
