Unsold Rugby World Cup tickets worrisome for organisers: half the seats in stadiums vacant
The large number of unsold Rugby World Cup tickets is becoming a cause of worry for the organizers of the event. With less than four months to go in the largest event of the year, almost half of the tickets are still unsold. Rugby World Cup is kicking off later this year in New Zealand. People seem to be less interested in ticket buying after the devastating earthquake hit Christchurch on 22nd February.
According to a press release issued by World Cup organizers, approximately 789,000 of the 1.6 million total tickets to the Rugby World Cup have been sold, which mean more than half the tickets were still unsold due to various issues. The demand for Rugby World Cup tickets has plummeted after the post-earthquake situation that developed in the southern parts of New Zealand.
The third largest city of New Zealand, Christchurch, was hit by a fatal quake on 22nd February, that left more than 180 people killed, as many as 170 missing and hundreds of houses destroyed. The city was set to stage seven matches of for the RWC, including two quarter finals. All the scheduled matches are to be played in AMI stadium, in Christchurch, were shifted to other places as the quake damaged the venue to such an extent that it would not be feasible or safe to host an event.
The organisers have refunded about 130,000 tickets to Christchurch matches which is huge set back for them. Rugby World Cup CEO, Martin Snedden, told media that the situation was good before the earthquake but now they have to take immediate steps to enhance sales. He added, "Pre-Christchurch, ticket sales were exactly where we expected them to be. The transfer of matches so close to kick-off is unprecedented for any major event and has created significant additional challenges, but we remain confident that we should be able to recoup the bulk of the refunded sales within the next two months or so."
Meanwhile Martin Snedden was confident about a surge in sales because more than 85,000 foreigners are expected to visit New Zealand to watch the action live. He argued that, “Overall, we still remain confident that, by tournament-end, we will achieve our sales target of $268m and 1.35m tickets”.
Snedden concluded that there were some barriers but organisers were hopeful about a successful end to the Rugby World Cup.
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