Lack of National Games tickets for groups a snag for Hong Kong’s tourism sector

Hong Kong tourism representatives have raised concerns that no tickets for the coming National Games will be allocated to travel groups, and that each buyer can only purchase six seats for any event, limiting the types of visitor packages that companies can offer.

Yeung Sai-hing, general manager of culture, sport and tourism centre at China Travel Service, the designated offline ticket seller for Hong Kong events, said on Thursday his agency was striving to create more products for the market, but the organising committee had not made any block bookings available.

“Currently, there is nothing specifically reserved for group tickets or packages,” he told a radio programme. “But I think, based on the ticketing situation, there is a great need, because the market has this need, and we must satisfy different customer groups … and we also want to launch [more] tourism products.”

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, also noted a “mismatch” between the short-notice travel habits of Greater Bay Area tourist groups and the time needed to arrange tour packages that included attending competitions at the National Games.

“As the tickets are mainly sold to individual travellers as separate tickets, it may not be possible to coordinate and design tourism products that will allow people to visit the events,” Chui said.

Their concerns were raised following the government’s announcement of individual ticket sales on Wednesday.