Hong Kong authorities will toughen anti-touting rules and penalties from next month in a further attempt to stamp out abuse in the booking of sports grounds and public recreation facilities.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department on Monday announced several new measures set to be implemented from November 1, after previously introducing anti-touting rules earlier in May.

The department said anyone who booked a facility and failed to show up twice within 60 consecutive days would be banned from making new bookings for 90 days. Currently, those who fail to be present during a 30-day period are prohibited for 90 days.

The department’s new measures to curb touting activities will take effect from November 1.

The suspension of booking rights for fee-charging facilities has been extended from 180 days to 360 days for anyone found to have transferred a user permit for a facility without authorisation.

Users of internet booking service Leisure Link will also be required to provide the numbers of four other patrons when submitting balloting applications for natural and artificial turf football pitches.

The hirer and three of the other users will have to sign in and show up for the booked session. They must also provide their original identity documents and other necessary information for verification and registration purposes at the check-in counter before using the football pitch.

A spokesman for the department said it would closely monitor the effectiveness of the new measures and introduce more anti-touting rules when necessary.

In a meeting of the panel on information technology and broadcasting at the Legislative Council, Victor Lam Wai-kiu, the government’s chief information officer, on Monday said authorities might also introduce a new allocation system to combat touting activities.

“People can ask somebody else to book the venue on their behalf. So we will work with the [department] on how to make it fairer by adopting a [system that works on a] first come, first served basis as well as drawing lots, and try to crack down on venue speculation. Hopefully, the new measure can be introduced as soon as possible,” he said.

Earlier in May, the department announced that online booking services for the city’s public recreation and sports venues would open 15 minutes earlier than counters and kiosks to combat touts.

This was an effort to curb “queuing gangs” – people hired to line up outside venues late at night – as the department earlier said customers who used Leisure Link would be able to book facilities seven days in advance after logging into the system at 7am.

Sports players had complained that many government facilities were often fully booked, even during non-peak hours, such as early mornings and weekdays.

Touts were charging HK$1,200 (US$152) for a basketball court earlier in May, which is four times the official fee of HK$296, and the mark-up could climb as high as HK$1,800 for courts near MTR stations.

Kelvin Sin Cheuk-nam, the Democratic Party’s spokesman on sports policy, said while the department was moving in the right direction to combat touting, there were still limitations.

Sin pointed out that at present, many private leagues used the public venues for competitions while charging participants a lot of money, making it difficult for ordinary users to book venues through the Leisure Link system because of limited supply.

He suggested the department should regulate commercial activities at such venues, including but not limited to the drawing of lots for teams and the setting of time slots.

“The new measures are not watertight. As long as the touts are present, there will be no transferring of venues, so in the long-run the government should speed up the supply of venues to curb touting,” he said.

People play table tennis at Siu Sai Wan Sports Centre.

A 30-year-old freelance videographer surnamed Chung who likes to play badminton once every two weeks, said that though he did not face much difficulty booking sports facilities, he did sometimes encounter challenges competing with other users to reserve the courts in time.

He occasionally had to travel from Kowloon to a more remote badminton court in Yuen Long during non-peak hours like weekday afternoons.

A Post check showed that most of the department’s badminton courts were fully booked for this weekend, except for some slots available at 7am and 10pm. Weekday morning slots were also available this week at most locations.