Ticket sales plague Athens Olympic organizers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-29 11:14

Ticket prices for events at the Athens Olympic Games will not be cut even though only a third of tickets have been sold with six weeks before the opening ceremony, the organizers said.

Athens has long faced criticism for construction delays and the prospect that some venues might not be finished on time.

But now that the stadia are finally almost ready, the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee (ATHOC) faces the humiliation that many of them might be largely empty during the August 13-29 Games.

There are 5.3 million tickets for the Games, of which just over 1.9 million have been sold.

Much of the blame for the disappointing sales has been attributed to sponsors, which have taken up a distinctly underwhelming 900,000 of the 2.3 million tickets they were offered.

"I think that it's too early to speak about a failure, when you have 75 per cent of the money already from the sale of the tickets in. We have sold the most expensive tickets already," said Athens mayor Dora Bakoyannis.

The sluggish sales have been compounded by international visitors staying away and the tendency of Greeks to do many things, including buying tickets, at the last minute.

"Hopefully, the Athenians will belatedly get into the Olympic spirit and snap up tickets in the days before the Games once it isunder way," said Kakarantzas Stefanos, a managing director for theticket sales.