China says ticket sales unaffected by torch protests

Protests which have dogged the global leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay have had no effect on international ticket sales for the Games, a senior official said yesterday. If anything, the problem is that overseas demand keeps on rising, Zhu Yan, director of ticketing for the Games, told a news conference.

"The general situation is that Olympic tickets have received an enthusiastic welcome," he said. "The main pressure at the moment is that all around the world there is continuing demand to add tickets."

Anti-Chinese protests, largely over Beijing's handling of deadly riots in Tibet in March, have marred the relay in London, Paris and San Francisco, with many exiled Tibetans trying to snatch or extinguish the torch.

Thousands of pro-Tibet supporters have promised to hold a peaceful rally during today's torch relay in Canberra, but thousands of Chinese students were also expected to rally to support China.

Beijing organisers were in close touch with National Olympic Committees, who handle ticket sales outside China, to ensure there were enough tickets, Zhu added.

"Beijing organisers keep digging out resources for tickets to satisfy demand from all over the world," he said.

China will start the third round of domestic ticket sales from May 5, and yesterday unveiled for the first time the design for the tickets, which have many high-tech features to prevent fraud and copying.

A total of 1.38 million tickets will be released in this round for 16 sports, including boxing, softball, beach volleyball and wrestling. Two-thirds of the seven million tickets available to the public have already been sold.

Beijing expects thousands of accredited reporters to cover the Games, but also thousands of unaccredited media too. Tomorrow, organisers will start accepting applications for non-accredited media.