The Hong Kong Rugby Union – which organises the Hong Kong Sevens – on Monday said it expects there will be fewer overseas visitors to the tournament this year, given the city's quarantining of arrivals.

But the union's chief executive, Robbie McRobbie, says he anticipates strong local demand for the event, which takes place in November for the first time since 2019.

McRobbie said the event would be Covid-compliant, meaning under current rules, venue capacity is capped at 85 percent, and people must wear masks when not eating and drinking. He also said international teams supported being in a closed-loop system.

“The teams are just really excited to be coming back to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the spiritual home of the World Sevens series, McRobbie said. “They want to help us, they want to see the event come back.”

McRobbie also said given the expense of these Covid-mitigation measures, he hoped the government could extend more support.

“The closed-loop system does involve taking over an entire quarantine hotel for the duration of the stay of the teams, so there are significant costs that will be incurred through that.

“We wouldn’t have pushed the button if we weren’t confident it was affordable and feasible to go ahead but yes, we will continue to engage with the government over the coming weeks to see how they can help support us,” he added.

The Commissioner for Sport Yeung Tak-keung told RTHK's Backchat programme that the government has been in discussions with the union for the past two months about bringing the mega event back.

However, Yeung said while drinking will be allowed in the stands, eating will not be. He said people will need to eat at so-called “eating outlets” instead.

"For eating, you need to take off the mask, and we want to reduce and minimise the mask-off activities at the spectator stands," Yeung said.

"We want the spectators to observe the rules themselves, and also, the Rugby Union will send people around to remind people to put their masks back on after drinking."
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Last updated: 2022-08-01 HKT 10:00