Upgrades to Hong Kong’s online ticket system will improve website congestion, but cannot prevent incidents such as Blackpink ticket nightmare, experts say

An upgrade to a government-run online ticketing system launching on Thursday could improve website congestion, but it cannot fully prevent incidents such as fans not being able to secure spots at K-pop sensation Blackpink’s upcoming concerts in Hong Kong, experts have said.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said under the changes, the Urban Ticketing System (Urbtix) would be able to accommodate about 20,000 users at the same time, a tenfold increase from its existing capacity of 2,000.

Music fans have expressed frustration over website congestion issues at Urbtix, saying there are long waiting hours for popular concerts and events in recent years.

The department said the upgraded system relied on cloud technology to handle a larger volume of ticket purchases, adding capacity could be scaled up to 100,000 according to operational requirements.

A new virtual queuing function showing a user’s position in real-time has also been added, along with a mobile app offering more e-payment options.

Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said the new Urbtix system should be able to divert ticket buyers to different servers to increase the chances of them landing on the purchasing page.

“Transparency in the queuing status could offer a more favourable user experience as buyers will know what to expect, instead of them staying in front of the computer, not knowing whether they can buy the tickets, which was frustrating for them,” Fong said.

Jake Koh, chairman and executive director of Cityline, the current network contractor of Urbtix, said he believed the new system could alleviate online congestion issues and speed up the buying process.