Late last month, Beijing Olympic organizers proudly announced that the 6.8 million Olympic tickets were sold out. Yet empty seats are prominently featured on television broadcasts, even for such high-profile events such as competitions where American swimmer Michael Phelps is competing to become the most decorated Olympian in history.
While there are a number of reasons for the lack of interest, what’s embarrassing for organizers is an opportunity for Olympic enthusiasts to still land tickets to the games.
1. Purchase them legitmately from Cosports, the official ticket seller for Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Slovak Republic, United States and the European Union and European Economic Area (EEA). Tickets have been popping up irregularly and even popular events such as basketball and football have had tickets become available for a short time before eager buyers snatch them all up. However, you need to be a citizen of the countries mentioned above ANDａVisa cardholder. There’s also a $30 USD handling charge, but one easy way to get around the high fee is to buy tickets with several friends.
2. Online classifieds have been seeing a roaring trade in second-hand tickets.
- English-language classifieds on the Beijinger and the Beijing version of Craigslist are listing tickets, where they are going for everything from face value to ten times the face value. One woman on Craigslist is even selling tickets at face value in return for a little companionship.
- For Chinese speakers, the Chinese clone of Craigslist zhan-tai.com also has many listings. While the sections for the second-hand and sporting events tickets have been temporarily closed, tickets are easily available in the Others 其他商品 section of their classifieds.
3. Buy them from a scalper at the venue. Technically, this is illegal, but the ticket hawkers are flourishing right in front of the police. It may be worth it to arrive at the venue a little bit early and see what is available. While there are reports of tickets being sold for ridiculous amounts of money (1000 RMB for a 50 RMB ticket for a fencing event, according to this International Herald Tribune article), reasonably priced tickets can still be found by savvy bargainers. For instance, blogger Ben Ross has been showing up at various Olympic venues every day, purchasing tickets for as little as 30 RMB for events like women’s handball.
4. Lastly, Paul Pennay at the Beijinger blog highlights some very creative ways that Beijingers can get tickets. He writes:
According to a report in Monday’s Beijing News, one man has probably really pissed off his friends and family by deciding to give away all of the ten tickets he managed to get in the second, third and fourth rounds of Olympic ticketing. Xiong Wei is just a regular guy who has decided to offer his tickets to anyone who agrees to sign a contract that commits them to give up smoking for one year.
So if all else fails, and you’re ready to give up smoking, then perhaps the opportunity to see an event for free will encourage you to go cold turkey.
Good luck!
Fiona Lee is a freelance writer/marketer/blogger based in Beijing. She blogs at quirkyBeijing.
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