Lawmakers and district councillors have expressed confidence that capping the number of daily visitors at 2,000 under a real-name registration trial scheme for the Po Pin Chau trail in Sai Kung East Country Park will help tackle overcrowding during peak holiday periods.

The system, announced last week by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, allocates bookings on a first-come, first-served basis starting next month.

The trial covers selected weekends in September, as well as the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week holidays.

Bookings for visits for the September 5 weekend opened on the Klook platform at 11am on Monday.

Afterwards, bookings will open every Monday at 11am for the following week's visits.

Speaking in an interview with RTHK, lawmaker and Sai Kung district councillor Christine Fong noted that Po Pin Chau had been drawing an average of 3,500 visitors per day during peak periods, with single-day highs surging up to 5,700.

She said the reservation scheme is an “appropriate first step” towards clearing the bottleneck.

While authorities confirmed that no-shows won't be penalised during the trial phase, Fong suggested that absences should lead to temporary suspensions of accounts in the future in the absence of valid excuses being furnished.

“So a temporary booking ban, for example, [to block] an account for 30 days after two unexcused no-shows, I think it is necessary to stop their speculative hoarding,” she said.

Fellow lawmaker Chris Ip voiced support as well, saying he believes the scheme will help manage overcrowding.

To further prevent quota hoarding, he suggested that authorities consider introducing a deposit requirement at a later stage.

Sai Kung district councillor Chris Cheung also called the initiative a step in the right direction.

He proposed that a portion of the daily quota be reserved for locals and walk-ins, noting that some elderly might struggle with online bookings.



Edited by Tony Sabine