The Our Hong Kong Foundation on Monday said the SAR needs a permanent office devoted to luring mega events in the sporting field.

The think tank said the suggestion was based on a survey of more than 50 stakeholders, as well as studies of how other regions do it.

It said a permanent office could be based on the mega events coordination group set up early this year.

Kenny Shui, the think tank's vice president, said such an office would allow the government to have a more proactive role in events bidding and planning.

"We can foresee that as we want to have more and more mega events, actually we need a regular office to support this. So that once you have this office, you can plan the whole event calendar not just for one single application, but you can oversee for the whole planning," he said.

Shui said in order to maximise the economic benefits of mega events, the government should hold them in bundles.

A researcher with the think tank, Josselyn Chau, said the 50,000 seat Kai Tak Sports Park will allow more large-scale events to be held in the city once it opens in the first quarter of next year.

But she said there will still be capacity restraints and Hong Kong should collaborate with other cities in the Greater Bay Area cities to stage multi-sport events.

"Because obviously, hosting a multi-sport event would lead to a huge financial burden to the city and we see that co-hosting is really a global trend," she said.

"So we think that co-hosting with GBA will not only reduce the financial burden but will also promote sports tourism around the area. This is great for Hong Kong as well as the entire GBA's economic development."

The think tank also called for government venues to be upgraded so they can also host international events.