Hong Kong Sevens is the pinnacle event in global sports, says rugby boss

The Chairman of World Rugby, Brett Robinson, has branded the Hong Kong Sevens as “the crown jewel of our Sevens series” as tens of thousands of spectators celebrated the sport at Hong Kong’s biggest party of the year at Kai Tak Stadium.

The 50,000-seat arena was packed to capacity during the three-day event which drew in visitors from all points of the globe. An estimated 10,000 foreign visitors joined the Hong Kong throng despite rising airline costs due to the Middle East crisis. Most had purchased their tickets well before the crisis had begun.

The economic benefits of the event are enormous. Although figures for this year have not yet been analysed, in 2025 it was estimated the Rugby Sevens generated some HK$780 million to the city’s economy, according to global analytics firm Nielson.

“There is nothing quite like it,” said Robinson in an AFP interview, adding that it was one of the pinnacle events on global sports, not just rugby. “It’s the jewel in the crown of our Sevens series.”
The runaway success of the Hong Kong Sevens played a key part in rugby returning to the Olympics at Rio 2016 after a 92-year absence. Robinson said that when rugby was applying to become an Olympic sport again, delegations were shown Hong Kong to help stake its case for inclusion.

The weekend celebrated the 50th year for the Hong Kong Sevens and has grown from a mere 3,000 local spectators in 1976 to 50,000 fans today.

And party the fans do, which is one of the attributes to the weekend’s activities. At the South Stand 0.2 young and old alike enthusiasts don colourful costumes and consume gallons of beer as the games progress. It is the colour of the attendees which make it an international attraction to the event.

Of course, to host such a major event, there must be the facilities to match the task. The $30 billion stadium opened last year with major events being a series of concerts and the Rugby Sevens, sponsored by Cathay Pacific Airways and HSBC bank. In fact, the futuristic purplish façade of the stadium with its retractable roof was purposely built for the Sevens with its 24 separate changing rooms.

The rugby opening ceremony on Friday could rival that of the Olympics. It featured dancing robots, cheer leaders, K-Pop stars, light shows and fireworks. The Hong Kong Tourism Board brought in the dancing robots that had previously featured on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala as part of its mission to showcase the city’s appeal as the events capital of Asia.

The 28 hectare Kai Tak Sports Park where the stadium is located is designed around a covered Kai Tak Sports Avenue, an indoor and outdoor pedestrian walkway starting at the Station Square and takes people all the way to the Dining Cove overlooking the Victoria Harbourfront.

The main stadium has a flexible pitch system which can be switched between natural turf for premier football or rugby events, to other surfaces for a variety of sports, entertainment, and community events. The facility has been designed to meet the standards of major international events with customisable staging and seating configurations that cater to various events and crowd sizes.

The sports park's Indoor Sports Center provides a large multi-purpose space with retractable seating to host major competitions or events of up to 10,000 seats and to accommodate sports courts for community use. A 5,000 seat Public Sports Ground is also provided for hosting school athletic events, athletic training and local league games.

Other facilities include more than 8 hectares of open spaces, outdoor ball courts, a children's playground, a health and wellness center, a bowling center and 200 retail and dining outlets. An event village will also be built to house international athletes visiting from other regions and countries.

The weekend was wall-to-wall sporting activities kicked-off by Hong Kong China Rugby which showcased international wheelchair rugby at the Kai Tak Sports Park Sports Hall with the inaugural Hong Kong 5s competition. Fast, fierce and full contact, the wheelchair rugby 5s brought high-intensity action to the Sevens week.

Earlier the premier U18 boys and girls players from the best local schools and clubs and school teams from all over the world competed in the Cathay Youth Invitational Sevens 2026 at the Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground.

The inaugural Fast 4s Netball tournament took place at the Sevens Fan Village situated at the Kai Tak Sports Park’s East Village. With local and overseas teams competing in a 4x4 mixed format in seven-minute halves, visitors experienced the high-speed action and razor-sharp moves associated with Fast 4s Netball.

Also in the Fan Village, Hong Kong China Rugby partnered with the Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) to host the APPT Grand Slam Platinum Hong Kong 2026 event.

Cathay/HSBC ticket holders can also experience the first ever Primal Race in Hong Kong, also running across the tournament. Combining running, strength, mental grit, machines, and functional endurance, the exciting hybrid fitness event was of interest to fitness gurus and those who were curious about reaching their full physical fitness potential.

The Hong Kong Sevens is more than a sporting spectacle—it is a living symbol of the city’s global connectivity, and ability to bring people together in celebration. From its humble beginnings to its golden jubilee at Kai Tak, it reflects how Hong Kong continues to evolve while staying true to its vibrant, international character. As the city looks ahead, the Sevens will remain an event capital, not just a crown jewel of world rugby, but a beacon of Hong Kong’s ambition to be Asia’s events capital—open, dynamic, and ready to welcome the world.

Mark Pinkstone

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

It is said that sport promotes a healthy body, a healthy mind…and a healthy economy. In Hong Kong’s case that is worth about HK$51 billion (US$6.5 billion), or 1.5 per cent of our $3.4 trillion (US$ 434.2 billion) gross domestic product.

On top of that, it provides for about 84,000 jobs, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics Department.

Already Hong Kong draws on a fine reputation for hosting international sporting events, such as the Rugby Sevens, ATP and WTA tennis championships, the LIV golf tournament, equestrian events, snooker championships to name just a few. Every month The Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s calendar is filled with sporting events, both local and international, to keep sporting facilities fully booked.

Due to its high class sports facilities, low tax regime, location as the center of Asia and lifestyle appeal, Hong Kong has attracted super stars like snooker champions Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Jimmy White to take up residence here under the government’s Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS). The Scheme is designed to attract highly skilled or talented persons to settle in Hong Kong to enhance the city's economic competitiveness. Applicants are not required to have secured an offer of local employment before applying for entry or being admitted to Hong Kong for settlement under the Scheme. Accordingly, the trend is continuing as high-profile figures continue to join the city's registry. More than 100 active and retired international athletes have relocated to Hong Kong under these programs in recent years, and officials continue to process applications from prominent global sports icons.

A number of sports events in Hong Kong have been given an “M” (for Mega) ranking by the Major Sports Events Committee for their ability to draw in large international followers, thus adding to the city’s tourism coffers. The ranking is for world-level events and goes with dollar-for-dollar matching grants from the government with funding based entirely on the event’s quality, media coverage and economic tourism potential.

Events which have received the “M” rating, and thus government financial support, includes the ATP and WTA tennis tournaments, rapid and blitz chess championships, international dragon boat races, volleyball nations league, the international invitation horse racing event, fencing world championships and, of course, the famed Rugby Sevens, Rugby Sevens which last year generated some HK$780 million (US $100 million) to the city’s economy.

All “M” events are a magnet for drawing foreign visitors to Hong Kong. For example, the Rugby Sevens earlier this year drew in about 150,000 foreign visitors and rising Filipina tennis star Alex Eala, who has taken the US open by storm, filled the 15,000 seat Wimbledon Centre Court with her fans, many of whom are expected to follow her to Hong Kong for the Prudential WTA Open in November.

Hong Kong’s HK$30 billion Kai Tak Sports Park with its 50,000-seat stadium drew 2.4 million spectators in its first year of operation. The main stadium is built to serve as a multi-purpose mega-venue. Overcoming Hong Kong's unpredictable summer weather it is equipped with a retractable roof and advanced climate control, to host premier sports tournaments alongside massive pop concerts.

Hong Kong’s role in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) provides an ideal opportunity for greater interplay between the nine cities in Guangdong and the Special Economic Zones of Hong Kong and Macao. Prime examples would be the 15th National Games and historic cross-border marathons and cycling races, where athletes seamlessly travel across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The lead for cross-border sport is being taken by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has made major proposals in our first Five Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, by transforming the GBA into an international equestrian and equine sports hub.

The club envisions a seamless multi-destination racing tourism circuit that links its world-class facilities in Sha Tin and Happy Valley with the Conghua Racecourse in Guangzhou. To further solidify this ecosystem, the proposals suggest expanding Hong Kong's successful disease-free zone management and biosecurity protocols to other regions in the mainland, such as Xinjiang.

Under this equine hub framework, the club also advocates establishing a World Organization for Animal Health collaboration center in Hong Kong and advancing institutional connectivity by expanding the mutual recognition of veterinary qualifications across the border.

Both the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area gives a fresh impetus to the development of the tourism industry within the GBA. With the platform of the Tourism Federation of Cities in the GBA, the Tourism Commission has been actively fostering co-operation with the tourism authorities of the Macao Special Administrative Region and the nine Chinese Mainland cities in the GBA in developing more “multi-destination” tourism products.

As the consultation scope of the Five-Year Plan has been wide to incorporate most of Hong Kong’s society, tourism leaders including event organizers, travel agents, hotels and airlines have been promoting an integrated culture-sports-tourism synergy as a total package in fostering tourism to Hong Kong.

By working together as an industry and with our neighbors, Hong Kong becomes an even more attractive sports destination offering packages for foreign visitors to stay longer in this Pearl of the Orient.