A top executive of the British and Irish Lions is confident that the famous team's visit in 2013 will not be a financial burden for the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, which faces losses of millions of dollars from hosting the Bledisloe Cup last Saturday.
Charlie McEwan, a senior official involved in marketing the Lions brand, said he expected a high demand for tickets, not only from the Hong Kong public but fans in Asia and the travelling horde from Britain.
'There will be a minimum of 10,000 fans from Britain and Ireland following the team to Hong Kong and I don't expect there to be many empty seats,' said McEwan, part of an advance party who arrived last weekend to check out the facilities.
The HKRFU landed a huge coup last month when it confirmed the Lions would stop over on their way to Australia in 2013. They will meet an international Barbarians XV at Hong Kong Stadium on June 1.
More than 30,000 fans from Britain are expected to follow the team in Australia, with at least one-third coming through Hong Kong.
'There is a close affinity with Hong Kong for people from Britain and Ireland and we can expect a large group of travelling fans to turn up,' McEwan said.
Only 26,000 fans turned up for the Bledisloe Cup thriller - won 26-24 by the Wallabies - at the 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium. Those stayaway fans represented a loss of more than HK$10 million in ticket sales, leaving the HKRFU in the red.
