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Following is a question by Dr Hon Helena Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (April 9):
Question:
To align with booking procedures made online, Leisure Link counter booking has ceased to accept identity documents other than a Hong Kong Identity Card since February 1 this year. Non-Hong Kong residents have to apply, in person with valid travel documents bearing photographs, for Leisure Link Temporary Patron (LLTP) registration at the Leisure Link Telephone Services Centre of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) before they can make bookings for land-based facilities (except on-the-spot bookings). The validity period of an LLTP registration is six months or the applicant's limit of stay, whichever is less. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in respect of each type of Leisure Link facilities under the management of LCSD, of the (i) average hire charge per session, (ii) average cost per session, (iii) average usage rate per week, and (iv) average number of idle hours per week (set out at the Table 1) at present;
(2) of the respective numbers of Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents registered as Leisure Link patrons at present; the respective numbers of person-times of these two types of users using Leisure Link facilities last year;
(3) whether there is currently any difference between the charges paid by Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents for using Leisure Link facilities; if there is not, of the reasons for that, and whether LCSD will set different cost recovery rates for, and accordingly apply different hire charges to, these two types of users; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) whether LCSD will charge non-Hong Kong residents fees for LLTP registration, so as to partially recover the costs; if it will, of the fees; if not, the reasons for that; and
(5) whether LCSD will introduce measures to accord priority to local residents in booking and using Leisure Link facilities; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Since its establishment in 2000, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has allowed non-Hong Kong residents visiting or working in Hong Kong to hire its leisure facilities for the purpose of promoting "Sport for All". However, the LCSD has found that some members of the public have made two or more online registrations as Leisure Link Patrons (LLPs) by using their travel documents in addition to their Hong Kong identity cards, in order to make bookings in excess of the quota for individual users, thereby affecting other peoples' opportunities to book leisure facilities. To prevent members of the public from using different identities to book leisure venues, with effect from August 20, 2012, only Hong Kong identity cards are accepted for online LLP registration. Visitors or people granted temporary stay in Hong Kong but who do not have Hong Kong identity cards can make online venue bookings after registering at the Leisure Link Telephone Services Centre in person as Leisure Link Temporary Patrons (LLTPs) by presenting valid photo-bearing travel documents. This arrangement was extended to include counter bookings by non-Hong Kong residents from February 1, 2014 onwards.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The total operating costs and cost recovery rates of the major facilities of the LCSD in 2012-13 are set out at the Table 2.
Other than the above cost data, the LCSD does not have a breakdown of the data by facility or data on the average cost per session. The hire charges per session, average usage rates and average numbers of idle hours per week of the leisure facilities are set out at the Table 3.
(2) At present, about 760 000 local residents are registered LLPs. A total of 95 non-Hong Kong residents have applied for registration as LLTPs since August 2012, and 18 of the registrations are still valid as at February 19, 2014. During the 18 months since the introduction of the new measure in August 2012, a total of 565 sessions at leisure facilities were booked by non-Hong Kong residents, whilst about 8.1 million sessions were booked by Hong Kong residents.
(3) and (4) The LCSD has the same charging policy for both Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents using its facilities, which is in line with its policy objective of promoting "Sport for All". Since August 20, 2012, only a small number of non-Hong Kong residents have registered as LLTPs, and only about half of them have made bookings for leisure facilities. In view of the above, the LCSD does not have any plan to develop a separate and different charging arrangement for non-Hong Kong residents or to impose a charge on non-Hong Kong residents applying for LLTP registrations.
(5) The number of sessions of leisure facilities hired by non-Hong Kong residents accounts for a very small percentage of the total number of sessions available for booking. The usage rates of various facilities set out at the Table 3 also indicate that most of the facilities still have spare capacity for public use. There is no evidence that the existing arrangement of allowing non-Hong Kong residents to hire leisure facilities has affected local residents' opportunities to use these facilities, to the extent that any change is needed to the present arrangement. We will monitor the use of leisure facilities and make special arrangements if necessary as circumstances require.
Ends/Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:15
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