- Last chance to enter ballots for semi-finals and Final tickets.
- More than 500,000 tickets sold in Phase 1, strong local and international interest.
Applications for the second phase of Rugby World Cup (RWC 2011) ticketing, individual match tickets, open for a four week period on Friday September 10, Tournament Organiser Rugby New Zealand 2011 (RNZ 2011) announced today.
"I urge fans to take advantage of this phase as it may well be their last chance to buy tickets until well into next year and also the last chance to enter the ballots for semi-finals and Final tickets," said RNZ 2011 CEO Martin Snedden.
"We have already seen demand outstrip supply for some matches, and advise fans not to leave it too late and to apply during this second Phase."
Approximately 400,000 individual tickets will be made available in Phase 2 for all matches except the semi-finals and the Final. Similar to the first phase, fans may apply for tickets to matches of their choice. All applications have an equal chance of success.
"While tickets will be available for 45 matches, demand to date has been exceptionally strong for matches at Eden Park and the quarter-finals in Wellington and Christchurch," said Martin Snedden.
"We expect that fewer than 2,000 tickets will be available for each quarter-final and the New Zealand v Tonga, New Zealand v France, England v Scotland, and Australia v Ireland matches at Eden Park.
"In addition most tickets within the lowest price category have been snapped up at Eden Park, Wellington and Christchurch."
Phase 1 Summary
RNZ 2011 confirmed that overall sales targets were on track after 503,000 tickets worth $76m (exc GST) were snapped up during the first phase which featured Team and Venue Pool Packs as well as tickets to quarter-finals and the Bronze Final.
"The initial demand for tickets has been very strong, both from fans in New Zealand and around the world, and bodes well for capacity crowds in 2011."
Approximately 100,000 or one fifth of tickets were purchased overseas, with fans from United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Australia and South Africa leading the way. Some 20,000 fans from 85 different countries were successful in their applications.
Rugby Travel & Hospitality, which manages the Official Travel and Hospitality programme, said tickets were in high demand.
"Our global network of Official Travel Agents responsible for selling a wide variety of travel packages to Rugby fans from around the world are on track to sell more than 100,000 tickets through the travel programme to just over 30,000 overseas visitors," said David White, Director of Operations at Rugby Travel & Hospitality.
"Current sales indicate we'll also bring a further 13,500 visitors to New Zealand through the official hospitality programme."
RNZ 2011 expects that orders through subsequent ticket phases, further purchase of Official Travel and Hospitality packages as well as expected arrivals of media, sponsors and officials will see these visitor numbers continue to rise over the next 12 months.
Phase 2 Facts
- The application period will run from Friday September 10 until Friday October 8. At that stage RNZ 2011 will process applications. In the event that demand exceeds availability, applications will be randomly selected. Notification of the outcome of each application will be issued on or before November 12.
- As in Phase 1, using a MasterCard to apply for RWC 2011 Pool Packs will earn double entries into the ballots.
- The Phase 2 marketing campaign begins Sunday August 29.
- Full details on how the RWC 2011 Ticketing Programme works can be found in the updated Rugby World Cup 2011 Tickets Media Guide.
- All ticket prices for Phase 2 have been adjusted for the GST increase from October 1.
- As in Phase 1, New Zealand based fans can opt to use a payment plan. They will be able to pay in monthly instalments over a three month period. A $25 fee applies.
- RNZ 2011 expects to sell 1.45m of the 1.65m tickets available for sale. Of the 1.65m, Rugby World Cup Ltd currently retains 600,000 tickets for its Commercial Programme which includes sponsors, teams, travel and hospitality.
For more information about ticketing, please visit www.rugbyworldcup.com/tickets.