[1] The official schedule of ten events was announced by the International Rugby Board (IRB) on 2 December 1999.

The New Zealand and South Africa tournaments, however, were hosted as full international sevens events by their respective unions for the first time.

[4] The prestige of the Hong Kong Sevens was acknowledged by increasing the points scale awarded to teams at the tournament by an extra 50 per cent.

This recognised the special status of the event organized by the Hong Kong Rugby Union, played over three days instead of two and incorporating 24 teams instead of the usual 16.

[5] The union had initially wanted the Hong Kong tournament to be the final stop of the tour,[6] but this proposal had been rejected earlier by the IRB.