Extra 300,000 seats available for 2012 London Games

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-24 09:35

LONDON - An extra 300,000 seats will be available to sports fans at the 2012 London Olympics, organizers said on Monday as they set out their plans for avoiding the empty stadiums at Beijing.

Ticket numbers were raised from 7.7 million to 8 million, the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), responsible for staging the Games, said.

An extra 500,000 tickets were made available for the Paralympics, bringing the overall total to 10 million.

"We are completely committed to ensuring our events are accessible, that tickets are affordable and that our venues are packed to the rafters with sports fans," said LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton.

In its first major statement on ticketing policy, LOCOG said 75 percent of tickets will be available directly to people living in Britain and the European Union via a ballot process.

Of the remaining 25 percent, about 8 percent will go to sponsors, 13 percent to international fans and sports organisations and 4 percent to hospitality and travel companies.

Prestige hospitality tickets will account for less than 1 percent of tickets on sale, it said.

Details about pricing will not be available until later this year, with the tickets going on sale from spring 2011.

London 2012 will be hoping to emulate the success of the this year's Vancouver Winter Olympics when fans filled the stadiums, creating a vibrant atmosphere, in contrast to Beijing 2008 where volunteers were deployed to occupy swathes of empty seats at many venues.

The LOCOG is looking at shortening sessions to keep spectators interested, reducing the number of accredited seats for preliminary rounds, and setting up a system that allows seats to be reallocated after they have been vacated.

It also plans to set up an exclusive exchange system for those who get tickets but cannot attend the Games and want to sell them on.

Deighton also said it would be looking to squeeze out ticket touts so affordable tickets ended up in the hands of real sports fans.

Reuters