Hong Kong reaps HK$380 million bonanza thanks to overseas visitors at Rugby Sevens
More than half the crowd last year were from overseas and even more could be in the city for this weekend’s famous event
The Hong Kong Sevens is injecting at least HK$380 million into the city’s economy thanks to overseas visitors, figures from last year’s event reveal.
Market research from the 2017 Sevens showed more than half the crowd were overseas visitors and they stayed in Hong Kong for up to eight days, Hong Kong Rugby Union chief executive Robbie McRobbie said on Tuesday.
And even more visitors could be among the 40,000-strong crowd each day this weekend (April 6-8) as the Cathay Pacific/HSBC-sponsored showpiece is sandwiched between Easter and Cheng Ming Festival when many Hongkongers tend to travel abroad.
“Of the 120,000 spectators who attended over the course of the weekend last year, over half came from overseas,” McRobbie said.
“The interesting thing is we don’t sell over half of our tickets to overseas – they may have received them through friends and family of people who live or play rugby in Hong Kong.
