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2008Olympics > Beijing Organizing Committee
Beijing offer cheaper tickets
By Cruz Fang (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-11-29 11:41
Related reading: Beijing to put 7 million Olympic tickets on sale
The long-awaited ticket prices for the 2008 Beijing Olympics were
published Wednesday on the official Games site and the prices for seats
at the opening ceremony are as low as 200 yuan (US$26).
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge (L2) and 2008
Beijing Olympics organizing committee president Liu Qi(L1) visit the
construction site of the National Swimming Center on October 24, 2006.
[Xinhua]
While opening ceremony prices are capped at 5,000 yuan (US$641) per head,
the lowest price to view a sports competition will cost 30 yuan (US$4).
Tickets sales will start as early as the first half of 2007.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(BOCOG) released the general pricing plan on its official site, but left
specific information to be reviewed for the altogether seven million
tickets that Beijing Olympics will generate.
Considering China's average purchasing power, the BOCOG had long promised
to adopt a low-price ticket policy.
According to the website, tickets for closing ceremony range from
150-3,000 yuan (US$19-385), athletic competition preliminary tickets
range from 30-300 yuan(US$4-39) and tickets to the finals from 60-1,000
yuan(US$8-128).
The BOCOG will also offer student tickets which, comprise about 14 per
cent of all domestically-available tickets and cost merely five yuan
(US$0.6) and ten yuan (US$1.2) for preliminaries and finals respectively.
"China is a developing country with an average income level below that of
Sydney or Athens. Therefore the ticket prices are much lower compared to
those of recent Olympics," the website said.
The highest price for opening ceremony tickets is about 50 per cent of
that of recent Games. The lowest equals roughly 20 percent, according to
the site. The price of competition tickets average about 30 per cent of
that of the previous Games.
The site said no less than 50 per cent of all Olympic tickets would be
sold to the domestic public, as tickets should also, according Olympic
tradition, be available to international audiences.
So far the BOCOG has worked out 240 prices for the Beijing Olympics' 28
sports and 38 disciplines while pricing for a few items is still being
decided. Tickets aren't needed to watch events like road cycling, race
walking and marathons.
The BOCOG promised not to offer gifts or ticket discounts based on
nepotism,but will reserve a certain amount for the IOC, national Olympic
committees and commercial partners.
The BOCOG said about 14 percent of the available tickets would be
reserved for Chinese students, and that the domestic general public will
have access to least 50 percent of all available tickets. The rest will
go to sponsors, the IOC, national Olympic bodies and international sports
federations.
"The IOC is very pleased that BOCOG has found an affordable ticketing
program which will maximize the opportunity for the Chinese public to
enjoy the Games, whilst balancing with interest from the international
community," the IOC said in the statement.
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