Hong Kong fans prefer watching concerts overseas than buying scalped tickets in the city.
By Rita Yau
Instead of paying a scalper HK$7,000 (US $897.72) for a concert ticket, Nic Chau spent HK$11,000 (US $1410.6) to watch YOASOBI concerts in Singapore and Jakarta in a seven-day trip.
Chau planned to watch the concert in Hong Kong. He tried to purchase concert tickets the moment sales opened at noon on September 4, 2024 via the KKTIX platform.
But he failed. Tickets were sold out in three hours.
“When I checked on Carousell and Facebook, tickets selling at HK$1,480 (US $189.8) were resold for about HK$6,000 – 7,000 (US $769.47-897.72),” he recalls.
Ticket scalping is the practice of reselling event tickets. Scalpers usually buy tickets in bulk and resell them, leaving fans unable to purchase directly through official channels. Scalped tickets are usually sold at prices significantly above their original value, with markups averaging 49% but sometimes exceeding 1,000%, depending primarily on the event’s popularity, timing, and seat location.
“Ticket scalping should not be encouraged. The money doesn’t go to performers but those illegal scalpers,” Chau says.
“The price of a scalped ticket equals the cost of airfare and two concert tickets in Singapore and Jakarta. So why not go to overseas concerts instead? I also got the chance to visit other countries,” Chau adds.
He joined the online queue immediately when tickets for the concert in Singapore were still available on September 27, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. via the Ticketmaster SG platform.
“The sale was quite competitive. I waited for 30 minutes online before I managed to get the tickets,” he says.
Chau successfully purchased one VIP Standing ticket of the Singapore YOASOBI concert at face value HK$1,561.01 (US $200.19).
For the Jakarta concert, the situation differed. Sales there began on October 12, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. through the official website yoasobiinjakarta.com.
“I didn’t buy tickets for the Jakarta concert immediately after the sale started. The cheapest ticket sold out on the first day, but tickets of other kinds were available for over a week,” he recalls.
From February 22 to 27, 2025, he spent four days in Singapore and three days in Jakarta, spending about HK$11,000 (US $1410.6) in total for attending two concerts in Singapore on February 23, 2025 and another in Jakarta on February 26, 2025.
The following table is the breakdown of his expenditure:
K-pop fan Lai Wing-sze also gave up getting tickets for the 2NE1 concert in Hong Kong and flew to Kuala Lumpur for the show instead. The cost of her entire trip was HK$4,000 (US $512.98) cheaper than a single scalped ticket.
Lai first attempted to buy tickets for the 2NE1’s Hong Kong concert of Asia Tour <Welcome Back> on October 23, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. through the Cityline platform as soon as sales started.
“I checked the ticket page to queue as soon as ticket sales started. All tickets were sold out in an hour. I still failed to reach the website page for buying tickets,” Lai recalls.
She then searched for tickets through scalper chat groups on Telegram.
“The official price of a ticket was HK$2,299 (US $294.84), but scalpers were selling up to about HK$10,000 (US $1,282.45). It is just ridiculously expensive,” she says.
Lai then found out it was a much better deal to watch the concert outside Hong Kong.
“It is much more worthwhile to buy overseas concert tickets at the original price and turn it into a trip. No matter where I go, it still beats paying HK$10,000 just to watch a single show in Hong Kong,” she says.
The ticket sale of the Kuala Lumpur concert began on December 17, 2024 at 11 a.m. via the GoLive Asia platform.
“When the concert tickets in Kuala Lumpur went on sale, my friend managed to buy two and she asked if I wanted to go. I said yes right away,” Lai recalls.
They successfully purchased two VIP Soundcheck tickets at face value HK$2,531.01 (US $324.59).
Lai travelled to Kuala Lumpur from January 31, 2025 to February 3, 2025 and attended the 2NE1 concert on her second day. The entire trip cost her around HK$6,000 (US $769.47) in total, HK$4,000 (US $512.98) less than the price of a scalped ticket for the same concert in Hong Kong.
The following table is the breakdown of her expenditure:
In Hong Kong, ticket scalping is illegal. Section 6 of The Public Entertainment Ordinance (Cap. 172) states that no person shall sell or offer tickets with a price higher than the fixed amount set by the event organizer held at licensed venues. Any person who violates will be fined HK$2,000 (US $256.49).
But this rule does not cover venues run by the Leisure and Culture Services Department such as the Hong Kong Stadium and the Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
Since the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park last year, online concert ticket scams have increased significantly, surging 60% to 2,805 cases. The police urge the public to avoid purchasing or obtaining tickets through channels not authorized by the event organizers to prevent falling victims to scams and incurring losses.
In an operation near Kai Tak Sports Park on April 8, 2025, police arrested six people for allegedly selling two Coldplay concert tickets at a price above face value. Tickets originally priced at HK$399 (US $51.06) were being sold for HK$1,499 (US$191.82), a markup of 2.7 times.
Edited by Christine Ge
Sub-edited by Alexa Lau
