Hong Kong's largest sports complex, is nearing its official opening in 2025. The stadium, which replaced the former Kai Tak Airport, has already debuted as an arena for test matches and evacuation simulations.

Opening date and first events of Pearl of Orient

Construction of Kai Tak Sports Park Main Stadium began in 2019, with completion scheduled for the end of 2024. The stadium will officially open in the first quarter of 2025, although the exact date is yet to be announced. A series of trials and test events have taken place ahead of the facility's inauguration.

The schedule of test matches includes an international rugby tournament, which took place on November 16, and further events in early 2025, including games in the main stadium. It is worth mentioning that the first test match was already held in October 2024, when local football teams attracted more than 1,500 spectators.

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Kai Tak Stadium is also attracting attention as a world-class concert venue. The first major music event will be the Coldplay concerts, which will be held at a full capacity of 50,000. The venue has been designed with flexibility in mind - the stage and seating layout can be adapted to accommodate different types of events, from concerts to sports competitions. The south grandstand, inspired by the Hong Kong Sevens, offers panoramic views of Victoria Harbour.

Kai Tak Sports Park is located on the north side of the former, most dangerous airport of Kai Tak, in a prime location with easy access to Kai Tak and Sung Wong Toi MTR stations. Both stations are approximately a 10-minute walk from the site. Specially marked entrances and exits will be available for visitors, as well as additional transport services, including more frequent metro runs. Motorists can take advantage of the extensive parking system.

What will you find at Kai Tak?

The 32,000-square-foot Kai Tak Retail Pavilion, will house more than 70 restaurants and cafes, such as Morning Coffee & Evening Wine Mountain Nook, Kew+ (a restaurant combining Chinese, Western and Japanese cuisine), and The Pizza Pig. For lovers of diverse cuisine, there will be a food court offering Chinese, Japanese, Korean, European and American dishes.

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Kai Tak Retail Pavilion is also a retail space with more than 200 shops, including flagship boutiques of sports brands. In addition to sports shops, you will also find concept shops such as National Geographic and Oofos Recovery Footwear. For fans of active entertainment, there will be a 17.5-metre-high climbing wall and a bowling alley with 40 lanes that can be rented.

Adjacent to the stadium will be the Kai Tak Empire Hotel, opening in September 2024. The hotel will offer views of the harbour, the futuristic dome of the stadium and access to numerous rooftop restaurants and bars. Kai Tak Sports Park is also a space for Hong Kong residents. The stadium's treadmill will be available to the public for jogging and walking when no events are taking place.

Last point before opening: Comprehensive readiness test of services and facilities

An extensive simulation exercise involving emergency services, police and volunteers was conducted at the Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground. This was the third such exercise as part of the testing of the new sports complex. The exercise was designed to assess the effectiveness of crisis management, crowd control and cooperation between the various units involved in the organisation of mass events.

One of the most important elements of the exercise was the simulation of an emergency situation, in which a participant in the event fell down the stairs and suffered a leg injury. Within a minute, three paramedics arrived on the scene and dressed the injured person before the ambulance arrived on site. The entire process from the time of the call to transporting the injured man to hospital took just 15 minutes. Safety Secretary Chris Tang Ping-keung stressed that the event confirmed the efficiency and speed of the emergency services' response.

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One of the key aspects of the tests was to simulate the evacuation of participants under different conditions. A group of 5,000 people was divided into three segments to leave the stadium under different scenarios. The first group of 2,000 people left the venue at a normal pace, which took less than 10 minutes. The second group, simulating rainy conditions, moved with umbrellas towards the nearby Sung Wong Toi underground station. The last group, also comprising 2,000 people, moved more slowly, mimicking crowded exit conditions. All groups safely left the area within 30 minutes.

To support the evacuation process, the MTR Corporation made temporary changes at nearby underground stations. At Sung Wong Toi station, 12 one-way turnstiles were installed and the frequency of trains was increased, appearing every 2.5 minutes. Passenger flow management went smoothly, but Senior Superintendent Chan Hin-kwan noted that there was a need to improve queue organisation at the entrances, especially near peak hours.

Checkpoints were also tested during the exercise. In one staged scenario, visitors attempted to bring prohibited items, such as fresh fruit and a knife, into the stadium. Security successfully detected the prohibited items during the checkpoint and instructed the participants to leave them behind.

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As announced by District Commander Kit Tse Tsui-yan, another drill is scheduled for next month at Kai Tak Arena. In January, the tests will also include the main stadium that is part of the sports complex. Two smaller test events have been held so far. The first was a football match with 1,500 spectators, during which the crowd smoothly left the stadium within 10 minutes of the end of the game. The second event was a rugby match between Hong Kong and Brazil, which took place on a rainy day. At the time, some spectators complained about the lack of shelter from the rain.

The exercise at Kai Tak Sports Park brought together 4,500 civil servants and 500 community members who participated in the simulations as volunteers. The organisers ensured that all participants were adequately prepared by providing them with detailed instructions. Participants from the public sector were also compensated HK$100 for participating in the event.