The design of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 tickets has been unveiled as organisers publicly denied reports that just 457 tickets had been sold for the Paralympics.
With just 100 days to go until the Games start in South Korea, a total of 29 designs have been released to cover 26 sporting competitions, the opening and closing ceremonies, and one general design ticket, which will feature across all sports. The sports-specific tickets feature the pictogram for that competition, while the ceremony tickets are a design of snowflake patterns that has been inspired by Hangeul, the Korean alphabet that is also used on the Olympic medal design.
While organisers described “excitement building across the country”, ticket sales do not reflect their optimism.
Korean politician Jo Seoung-lae claimed earlier this week that barely a quarter of the 1.06 million tickets for the Olympic Games have been sold so far. Jo also alleged that, according to a document provided by the Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism, just 457 tickets had been sold for the Paralympics as of last week.
PyeongChang organisers denied the lowly figure, although they admitted only 9,401 – around 4.3 per cent – had been shifted for the Paralympics. They said a total 341,327 (32%) of Olympics tickets have been sold.
A spokesperson for the International Paralympic Committee told Sky Sports News: “Clearly the figures of 4.4 per cent overall sold are not great which is why we are working closely with the organising committee, local and national government to further raise awareness of the Games.
“For the last two years we have been stressing to the organising committee the absolute need to invest significantly more time and energy into promoting the Paralympics, a message our President Andrew Parsons reiterated to the Korean President Moon Jae-in only last month.
“We are optimistic these calls will not fall on deaf ears and the Organising Committee will act to engage the Korean public in the Games.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in recently purchased tickets for the 2018 Games in a bid to increase sales, while the Korean Federation of Banks said they would buy $890,000 (£677,000/€762,000) worth of tickets after the dismal figures were first revealed.
Ticket service centres in Seoul City Hall, Gangwon Provincial Office and Gangneung City Hall will open on November 1. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the two largest airports in Korea, Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport from November 3.
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