The 2023 Lunar New Year (LNY) fairs attracted over 1.14 million visitors, a 32% increase over 2021. Under the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) epidemic, epidemic-related restrictions presented great challenges to the management of large-scale events. Appropriate arrangements had to be made in view of the capacity limit and social distancing measures. To cope with the huge crowd, the EMSD assisted the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) in implementing crowd control by using innovative technology to monitor the footfall at 15 locations where the LNY fairs were held across the territory, thereby improving the efficiency of crowd management.
This newly developed crowd control solution uses overhead people counting devices, which can sense multiple people passing through at the same time, to count the number of visitors passing through the entrances and exits, so as to facilitate the monitoring of footfall and the control of the number of visitors inside the venues. The statistical information was uploaded to the FEHD’s website and shown in the form of red, amber and green lights simultaneously both on the FEHD’s dedicated webpage and on site, enabling the public to know about the footfall and waiting status for entry to the LNY fairs. A ticketing system was set up at three venues to enable visitors to get a ticket on site or remotely through a mobile application. Furthermore, the FEHD staff could monitor the number of visitors in the venues and adjust the crowd control arrangements using the people counting system installed in the smartphones provided by the EMSD. Throughout the seven-day fair period, the Digitalisation and Technology Division of the EMSD set up a dedicated Central Control Centre to ensure the smooth operation of the people counting system and provide strong technical support to our client department.
The biggest challenge of this project was that we had to install the relevant facilities for multiple venues within a tight timeframe. Thanks to the extensive experience and meticulous preparation and planning of the team, the installation works at various venues were eventually completed within one week.
In the face of the challenges brought about by the epidemic, the EMSD team has stood united and risen to the challenges by making flexible arrangements and designing integrated crowd control solutions for large-scale events, catering for the specific needs of our client departments.