1 million Olympic tickets remain unsold

by JeffHuang | June 19, 2008 at 04:20 pm | 1366 views | 16 comments

There are still unsold tickets to the Beijing Olympics. I do not know if this is the norm when we are two months away and there are still 1 million unsold tickets or people are staying away for miscellaneous reasons. Lets just hope the atheletes can perform in front of a packed house for every event they participate in.

BEIJING - Organizers of the Beijing Olympics said on Wednesday that about 6 million tickets for the August 8-24 Games have been purchased, accounting for 86 percent of the total tickets available for sale.
hu Yan, head of the Beijing Olympics Ticketing Center, told a press conference that around 1 million tickets remain unsold now and the majority of them are the tickets for soccer competitions in the four co-host cities -- Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.
"We plan to put on sale the remaining tickets in late July, and people will be able to buy tickets at the Olympic venues by then," said Zhu.

According to Zhu, of the six million tickets that have been sold, the Chinese domestic public purchased 3.43 million, including 800, 000 reserved for the primary and middle-school students, while the rest went to the National Olympic Committees, the International Federations, the International Olympic Committee and sponsors.

Zhu said that as many as 185 NOCs have booked Olympic tickets, and it is a proof of the attraction of the Beijing Games.

"As far as we know, 185 is a record number in the history of the Olympic Games," he said. "So judging from the ticket sales, we can say that the Beijing Olympics is a grand party of the Olympic family."

Meanwhile, Zhu also announced that 830,000 tickets for the September6-17 Paralympic Games will go on sale across China as of Friday, with the price ranging from 30 yuan (about US$ 4.35) to 80 yuan (about US$ 11.6).

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Jarrett Martineau

at 16:35 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

Wow, interesting. I'm surprised. Good stuff.

rpshen

at 16:44 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

JeffHuang, I like this story. It's good stuff. I think the fake tickets online kinda scared ppl a little. I would be discouraged too!

amyjudd

at 16:46 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

JeffHuang, I like this story. It's good stuff.

I wonder if that will happen when the 2012 Olympics hit Vancouver?

julianw

at 19:29 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

JeffHuang, I like this story. It's good stuff.

mtippett

at 19:56 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

I had heard rumors of horrible ticket sales. No doubt they will be selling for rock bottom prices at the last minute.

tmacphail

at 20:32 on June 19th, 2008

This was shot in Hong Kong two weeks ago, outside the Kowloon Arts Center. Advertisements for the 2008 Olympics are everywhere all across the city, and the equestrian events, at any rate, are sold out.

tmacphail has contributed a photo to this story.

azzayindia

at 20:48 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

JeffHuang, I like this story. It's good stuff.

azzayindia

at 01:28 on June 20th, 2008

The close door policy of China is also not helping.I wonder how many forigners might have bought the ticket.

Is Silent "Say no to Biejing Campaign" taking its toll.

link

at 08:16 on June 20th, 2008

It will be interesting to see what happens as August approaches.

frank_rauss

at 09:48 on June 20th, 2008

This ticket was designed for an Olympic Branding Class. I had to brand the look and feel of the games for London 2012. I wanted to get spirit, energy and excitement of the games to show in the ticket as well as creating some depth and interest through the graphical elements.

frank_rauss has contributed a photo to this story.

hmanlee

at 09:58 on June 20th, 2008

I was there last month on as part of the AIGA XCD Design Expedition. We visited the Art Research Center for Olympic Design and met with many of the design firms and ad agencies that created or are working on the Olympic graphics. Truly amazing designs with layers upon layers of meaning.

Hotel and housing rental prices are going for more than 5X standard during the Games, and camping is forbidden. The events are also spread out across the country with most of it in Beijing but with sailing in Guanzhou and Equestrian events in Hong Kong. That's like having events in San Francisco and New York. You have to choose your sports and venues carefully.

hmanlee has contributed a photo to this story.

chikeller

at 10:24 on June 20th, 2008

This was taken in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam shortly before the torch relay came through. I was very excited and interested in seeing the relay and yet I could find no information about when it would be there. I asked many people and no one could tell me anything. An English language newspaper did site the day but not the time. When it did come through the city, they blocked off the ceremony (which occurred at the Opera House in the heart of the tourist district) area and I was unable to enter. After the ceremony and large group of young 'volunteers' walked out of the baracaded area as if they were in a parade. I have no clue where they were going.

chikeller has contributed a photo to this story.

dynofu

at 03:02 on June 22nd, 2008

I do not know if this is the norm when we are two months away and there are still 1 million unsold tickets or people are staying away for miscellaneous reasons.

...

hu Yan, head of the Beijing Olympics Ticketing Center, told a press conference that around 1 million tickets remain unsold now and the majority of them are the tickets for soccer competitions in the four co-host cities -- Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

...

as my experience, i do think people here in china are eager to get one ticket rather than staying away from the Olympic games. but your title are trying to deliver a message of the other side.