Around three million tickets were on sale in the first phase (Representational)
Paris:
A poll on Sunday showed four out of five French people think tickets for the 2024 Paris Olympics are too expensive, underscoring growing public frustration with the organizers on the issue.
A total of 82 percent of respondents said that tickets for games were “not accessible in terms of price”, according to a poll by Odoxa Polling Group for RTL Media Group and sports betting firm Vinamax.
The survey found that almost the same proportion (79 per cent) found the ticketing process “complicated”.
Tony Estanguet, president of the 2024 Paris organizing committee, has been forced to go on the defensive after the first major release of tickets to the public under the lottery system last fortnight.
Successful applicants are obliged to buy places for three events at the same time, with several games costing a minimum of 80 euros, meaning a family of four could face a bill of around 1,000 euros. Is.
“We are not more expensive than in London in 2012,” Estunget told RTL radio on 22 February. “It’s the same for the football and rugby World Cups. These are the prices.”
The official slogan for the Paris event is “Games Wide Open” and former canoeing gold medalist Estanguet promised “a large number of tickets at accessible prices for all sports” when the ticketing policy was announced in March last year. .
Organizers have promised one million tickets for 24 euros ($25) and nearly half for less than 50 euros, but difficulties in obtaining these cut-price offers appear to be a source of public frustration.
Social media has been abuzz with comments condemning prices of up to 690 euros for a place in athletics, as well as the lack of availability for sports such as fencing and climbing which have sold out quickly.
Around 30 lakh tickets were sold in the first phase, and 70 lakh tickets will be sold in the next two rounds.
The second phase will begin in May in which applicants will be able to purchase single tickets including the opening and closing ceremonies.
A third and final ticket sales phase will follow in late 2023.
In an editorial this week, left-leaning newspaper Le Monde said the first reaction to the ticketing system was “worrying”, given the organizers’ aims to make the Games accessible and a popular success.
The newspaper said, “Tony Estanguet may claim ‘thousands are happy’, but public discontent is a danger when ticket sales are just starting.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
featured video of the day
Crocodile spotted on road in Karnataka, rescued