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Following is a question by the Hon Gary Fan and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (October 22) :
Question:
It has been reported that more and more mainland visitors use the leisure and sports facilities (including swimming pools, holiday camp sites, ball game pitches/courts, etc.) managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) during their stay in Hong Kong. Since February 1 this year, only holders of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards (HKPICs)/Hong Kong Identity Cards (HKICs) may apply for registration as Leisure Link Patrons (LLPs), while people granted temporary stay in Hong Kong and visitors may apply for registration as Leisure Link Temporary Patrons (LLTPs). LLPs and LLTPs may make bookings for leisure and sports facilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of bookings for leisure and sports facilities made in each year from 2011 to August this year by LLPs/LLTPs who registered as such using HKPICs, HKICs (i.e. non-permanent residents) or other identity documents, as set out in table (1) ;
(2) whether it has compiled statistics on the number of bookings for leisure and sports facilities made by visitors to Hong Kong through Leisure Link in the past four years, with a breakdown by the country/place they came from in table (2) ;
(3) of the criteria currently adopted by LCSD for determining the number of major leisure and sports facilities (including sports centres, various kinds of ball game pitches/courts, etc.) to be constructed in various districts; whether the authorities, when setting those criteria, have taken into account the demand for leisure and sports facilities of visitors to Hong Kong; and
(4) given the comments that the hiring of LCSD leisure and sports facilities by a large number of visitors to Hong Kong has reduced the opportunities of Hong Kong residents in using such facilities, whether the Government will amend the relevant regulations and disqualify visitors to Hong Kong from applying for registration as LLTPs, so as to discourage them from coming to Hong Kong to use leisure and sports facilities?
Reply:
President,
With effect from August 20, 2012, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) only accepts Hong Kong Identity Cards for online registration as a Leisure Link Patrons (LLP). Visitors or people granted temporary stay in Hong Kong, who are not Hong Kong Identity Card holders, can only make online venue bookings after registering at the Leisure Link Telephone Services Centre in person as Leisure Link Temporary Patrons (LLTPs). The LLTP registration is valid for the period of permitted stay of a visitor, or six months, whichever is the shorter. There were 24 valid LLTPs as at October 1, 2014.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) LCSD does not have the data on booking of its facilities by visitors before August 20, 2012. The data on bookings made by Hong Kong Identity Card holders stored in the Leisure Link do not have a breakdown by residence status, i.e. "permanent" or "non-permanent". The numbers of sessions of LCSD recreation and sports facilities booked through the Leisure Link in each of the past four years are set out in table (3) ;
(2) The total numbers of sessions of LCSD facilities booked by non-Hong Kong Identity Card holders (with a breakdown by nationality) through the Leisure Link between August 2012 and August 2014 are set out in table (4) ;
LCSD does not have the data on bookings made before August 2012.
(3) In considering the provision of new recreation and sports facilities, LCSD makes reference to the standards of provision based on population as set out in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, consults the respective District Councils and takes into account factors such as public demand for facilities and the usage of existing facilities.
(4) According to the data available as at October 1, 2014, there were 24 valid LLTPs. As mentioned in part (1) of the reply, there were over 3.6 million sessions booked through the Leisure Link from January to August 2014, about 1 000 of which were made by LLTPs, accounting for less than 0.03 per cent of the total number of booked sessions. From this figure, it can be seen that the ratio of non-Hong Kong Identity Card holders booking LCSD recreation and sports facilities through the Leisure Link is minimal, and should have little impact on the utilisation of recreation and sports services by Hong Kong residents. Therefore, LCSD currently has no plans to change the arrangements.
Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Issued at HKT 16:04
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