ENG-2004 — Page 521

Recreation, Sport and the Arts 451

Sports and Recreational Venues

Hong Kong Stadium

This is Hong Kong's largest sports venue with about 40 000 seats. The stadium is used mainly for football and international rugby matches, while large-scale religious gatherings and fund-raising events for charity are also held. In total, 388 787 spectators attended 35 events at the venue in 2004.

Water Sports and Holiday Camps

The LCSD manages four water sports centres (Chong Hing, Tai Mei Tuk, Jockey Club Wong Shek and St Stephen's Beach) and four holiday camps (Lady MacLehose Holiday Village, Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre, Tso Kung Tam Outdoor Recreation Centre, and Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village). During the year, 100 426 people participated in water sports programmes held at the water sports centres and 489 322 people enjoyed the facilities at the holiday camps. To allow more people at work to enjoy camping facilities, the department provided evening camp programmes for 32 147 people in 2004.

Other Sports and Recreational Venues

The LCSD manages 85 sports centres, 36 swimming pool complexes, 270 tennis. courts, 321 squash courts, 24 sports grounds, four golf driving ranges and two public riding schools.

Nine new recreation and sport venues and two improvement projects were completed in 2004: Tai Po complex, indoor recreation centre-cum-library at Ma On Shan, local open space at Mouse Island, Tuen Mun, district open space at Tsing Yi, Ma On Shan Sports Ground (Phase 2), local open space at Tin Shui Wai, water sports. centre at Stanley Main Beach, local open space in Ping Shan, Yuen Long, a multi- purpose grass pitch on Sai Tso Wan former landfill, improvement to Lok Wah Playground, Kwun Tong, and renovation of the Wu Kai Sha Youth Village of YMCA, Ma On Shan.

Works were in progress on 13 other projects: Tai Kok Tsui Complex (Phase 2), local open space at Fanling, Kowloon Bay Recreation Ground, district open space at Tai Po, football pitch at Tai Po, district open space at Tung Chung, district open space at Tuen Mun, Stanley Complex, Hammer Hill Road Park, Diamond Hill, Cherry Street Park, Tai Kok Tsui, additional open space adjacent to Tsuen Wan Town Hall, indoor recreation centre at Tin Shui Wai, and improvement works to Lei Yue Mun Park Holiday Village.

Beaches and Swimming Pools

Swimming is one of Hong Kong's most popular summer pastimes. In 2004, people made 12.43 million visits to the beaches, and there were 9.81 million visits to the public swimming pools managed by the LCSD. There are 41 gazetted bathing beaches 12 on Hong Kong Island and 29 in the New Territories and outlying islands. The LCSD manages 36 public swimming pool complexes in the urban areas and the New Territories.