'New System On The Way For Booking Sports Facilities'

The government said on Wednesday that the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) is developing a new system to improve and facilitate the booking of public sports and recreation venues.

In a written reply to a Legco question, acting home affairs chief Jack Chan said the system currently under development is expected to come into operation in two phases starting next year.

Chan said an anti-bot solution will be used to filter out unusual bookings, so as to prevent scalping in relation to public sports facilities.

"Once an unusual booking is detected, the anti-bot solution will instantly analyse and intercept such bookings in a bid to prevent bot booking," he wrote.

The new system will also include an allocation of facilities by ballot, based on the need of certain venues and sessions, in addition to the first-come-first-served mechanism.

"Facilities will be booked and allocated through balloting first, while the remaining sessions will be allocated in accordance with the existing mechanism," Chan said.

Real-name registration will be required for identity authentication and booking facilities..

The LCSD has been exploring ways to stamp out suspected touting activities through a series of measures, such as giving priority to people booking public facilities through the government's online system over those queuing up at service counters and kiosks.

Separately, Chan said a mainland company has been commissioned by the LCSD in late October 2020 to develop and run a new ticketing system for URBTIX, which will be in use from the fourth quarter of this year.

He added that the new URBTIX system will offer more payment options, including Octopus and Faster Payment System (FPS), and also be equipped with advanced functions such as customer relationship management and ticket sales data analysis.