New booking rules for LCSD venues kick off Monday

By The SUN

 

The Cultural Centre Piazza where the Concert in the Park is held is one of the venues operated by LCSD (File)

Three new measures are set to take effect from Monday, May 16, aimed at preventing the touting or scalping of sports and leisure activities run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

The first will give booking priority for seven days to those who log into the LCSD system at 7am each day.

This is meant to curb the activities of so-called “queuing gangs” who line up overnight outside the Leisure Link booking counters and self-service kiosks to snatch up all available quotas for the day at each venue.

The operating hours at the booking counters and kiosks will now be delayed for 15 minutes to 7:15am to give priority to individuals who logged into the system earlier.

The second measure will restrict the online booking for venues to those who register with the government platform, “iAM Smart.” Each resident can register only their own identity card using a dedicated smartphone, eliminating the practice of scalpers or other individuals making multiple bookings in the name of various people using the same device.

The last step is to prevent organizations from shifting the booking of a venue to various individuals. The LCSD said only the person whose name is listed on the approval letter can take up a booked session.

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“Only the responsible person of the activity or the applicant of the organization listed on the approval letter can produce the original copy of his or her Hong Kong identity card at the booked session to take up the booking at the venue,” a government statement read. 

The new rules follow initial curbs in the booking system introduced on May 1, including subjecting the hirer to random inspections during the booked session. 

Foreign domestic workers are among those who regularly book sporting venues, parks and community halls on Sundays and statutory holidays when they can get off work.

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Their favorite venues include tennis, volleyball and basketball grounds; as well as community halls in various districts like Causeway Bay, Sheung Wan and Sai Wan Ho.

The most booked parks run by LCSD are Chater Garden and the Cultural Centre Piazza in Tsim Sha Tsui where the annual Concert in the Park by mostly Filipino musicians is held.