GANGNEUNG, 9 February (BelTA - Yonhap) - The online ticket lottery for the first Winter Olympics in South Korea opened Thursday, as the countdown to the competition reached one year. The organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games said the first window to apply for tickets will stay open until April 23.
PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul in Gangwon Province, celebrated the one-year countdown in Gangneung, a sub-host city for ice events at the 2018 Olympics.
The lottery is only open to those logging in from Korea at the official ticketing website (http://tickets.pyeongchang2018.com). Overseas applicants must contact their national Olympic committee or authorized ticket resellers (ATRs) for more information.
Only the winners of the lottery will be able to purchase tickets. They will be announced on May 8, and payments can only be made with Visa credit cards or through bank transfers. The organizing committee said a person may purchase up to 50 tickets - four per person for "high-demand" events and eight per person for all others.
High-demand sessions are the opening and closing ceremonies, figure skating, short track, speed skating (all events except for the men's 10,000m), hockey (the men's semifinals, bronze medal game and final, and the women's final), curling finals and ski jumping finals. Tickets to short track and figure skating, for instance, start at 150,000 won (US$131). The cheapest tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies are 220,000 won.
PyeongChang said about 60 percent of tickets for high demand events and 80 percent of all other sessions will be available for purchase during the first window. Tickets may be purchased in real time during the online general sales period starting on Sept. 5. The on-site sales will commence in October. There will be 1.18 million tickets on sale, with 30 percent of them to be sold outside Korea.
