DOHA —
About 1.2 million tickets have been sold for this year’s
World Cup in Qatar,
organizers said on Wednesday, putting a figure on sales for the first time.
اضافة اعلان
Chief organizer
Hassan Al-Thawadi said there had been “record-breaking” demand for the
November-December World Cup, the first held in the Middle East.
“I think about
1.2 million tickets have already been purchased,” he told the Qatar Economic
Forum.
“So people are
actually buying and people are excited to come there. There’s no doubt about
that.”
The figure was
confirmed by organizing committee officials, who said there were about 40 million
requests in the two phases of online sales.
Two million
tickets will be sold in total, with another 1 million reserved for world body
FIFA and sponsors.
The Qatari
capital Doha, with a population of about 2.4 million, is bracing itself for the
huge influx of visitors, with hotel accommodation extremely scarce.
The 32-team
tournament will be held at eight stadiums in and around the capital, putting
major pressure on infrastructure.
Qatar says there
will be 130,000 rooms in hotels, apartments, cruise ships, and desert camps,
where there will be 1,000 traditional tents. It has promised shared rooms for
as little as $85 a night.
To limit the
number of fans, only people with match tickets will be allowed to enter the
tiny, gas-rich country during the World Cup, officials announced last month.
More than 160
round-trip shuttle flights a day will bring in fans from neighboring countries,
easing the pressure on accommodation, while capacity has been doubled at
Doha’s
two international airports.
But Al-Thawadi admitted
it was “tricky” reining in accommodation prices, which are soaring in line with
demand.
“(We want to)
avoid price gouging,” he said. “Obviously market forces always mean that as
long as there’s a lot of demand, prices skyrocket.
“We’re trying to create
an environment where the business community benefits but at the same time, it
is affordable and accessible for the fans as well.”
Al-Thawadi also played
down the prospect of protests in
Qatar, after steady criticism over the
treatment of foreign laborers in a country that has the world’s highest GDP per
head.
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