By Baek Byung-yeul
Ticket prices for the 2018 Winter Games were announced Monday.
The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) said it expected 1.17 million tickets to be issued, 70 percent to be sold in Korea and 30 percent abroad. The committee said the average ticket price will be 140,000 won ($121) and it is expecting 174 billion won ($151 million) in ticket sales revenue.
“As our biggest goal is to make the 2018 Games more accessible to as many people as possible, 50 percent of the tickets for competition events will be priced under 80,000 won ($69.40),” POCOG spokesman Sung Baik-you said at a press briefing at POCOG headquarters in central Seoul.
POCOG said ticket prices are based on market research in eight countries, including Korea, and through discussion with winter sports federations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
It said the prices will range from 20,000 won ($17.30) to 90,000 won ($78), which is on par with the 2010 Vancouver Games and slightly lower than the 2014 Sochi Games.
Tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies will range from 220,000 won ($190.70) to 1.5 million won ($1,300), which is also in line with prices at previous Olympic events.
Other than those ceremonies, ice hockey topped the highest ticket prices among competition events, ranging from 60,000 won ($52) to 900,000 won ($780).
For figure skating, another highlight event of the Winter Games, ticket prices will range from 150,000 won ($130) to 800,000 won ($694).
The POCOG said the two competition events will account for about 40 percent of total ticket revenue ― 19.1 percent for ice hockey and 19.7 percent for figure skating.
Tickets will be available domestically on the POCOG official webpage. People overseas can buy tickets through authorized resellers around the world starting in October.