Games tickets at retail outlets from 25 August
21 Aug 2010
Tickets for the Commonwealth Games starting on 3 October will soon be available at retail outlets.
The organising committee (OC) launched the second phase of ticket sales on Friday, with the announcement of tickets being available at select outlets from 25 August. In the third phase, the OC will enable spectators to buy tickets from the venue itself. Till now, tickets were available only on the OC website.
Tickets can now be bought from 20 selected Central Bank of India branches as well as seven nominated Hero Honda showrooms and the IRCTC outlet in central Delhi.
Those booking tickets through the call centre (1800-200-1294 and 1800-102-1294) can use credit cards to buy tickets. They would be given a transaction number which can be used to collect tickets from retail outlets.
Direct purchases can be made at the retail outlets and those holding vouchers can also procure actual tickets there. Ticket holders will get a free Metro and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus ride on the day of the event, including for the opening and closing ceremonies. Apart from Delhi, tickets will also be available in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad.
Officials of the OC have admitted that sales had been slow till now, though the opening of retail outlets was expected to push up sales. OC officials insisted that they were confident of selling the entire stock of 17 lakh tickets ahead of the start of the games in Delhi. Interestingly, after India, the country most interested in attending the Delhi Games 2010 is Australia, followed by New Zealand and Britain.
Not surprisingly, the tickets in most demand are for the opening and closing ceremonies. The sales of these tickets have contributed to 25 per cent of the total sales so far, say OC officials. Among the sporting events, hockey is the front-runner, accounting for 14 per cent of the tickets sold to date, followed by athletics at 11 per cent and gymnastics at 10 per cent. Swimming is at the fourth spot with 8 per cent share of the sales.