The Hong Kong government is considering widening ticket scalping laws to cover venues that it manages amid renewed efforts to combat touting.
The South China Morning Post newspaper said that the Home Affairs Bureau has signalled it will not oppose the criminalisation of touting at the Hong Kong Coliseum (pictured) in Hung Hom and the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai, in light of “public concerns”.
These venues, along with others managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, are not covered by the existing anti-scalping law, which forbids the practice of reselling of tickets above face value at privately-owned venues.
The Post noted that the government has acted following a summer that has seen increasing concern over the practice of ticket scalping, with a number of popular shows selling out quickly only for tickets to subsequently appear on resale platforms at inflated prices.
These concerns culminated in August, when box office sales for singer Andy Lau Tak-wah’s concerts were suspended following a knife attack in the counter queue.
The bureau said a “prudent” approach should be taken when potentially amending the law as a further crackdown on ticket resale could impact other events where there may not be as great a demand for tickets.
The bureau has also spoken out on two further issues – personalised ticketing and the usage of internal ticket allocations for events. The Post stated that the bureau will continue to allow event organisers to decide whether to adopt personalised ticketing as efforts continue to address privacy concerns from customers.
Meanwhile, the government has said the percentage of internally allocated tickets to events could be “lowered gradually” but it would conduct a public consultation on what the figure should be.
Image: Ceeseven
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