SWIMMING BONANZA
TOURISM bosses are hailing the release of 6000-plus new Commonwealth Games swimming tickets as perfect timing to help promote overnight stays.
Games Minister Kate Jones last night revealed roughly 600 extra tickets to each of the 12 swimming sessions on April 5-10 would go on sale from March 28.
Gold Coast Tourism said the ticket release would help boost their marketing to lure more Games accommodation bookings.
GOLD Coast Tourism is hailing plans to release 6000-plus new Commonwealth Games swimming tickets as perfect timing to promote overnight stays.
Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones yesterday revealed at least 6000 – and possibly up to 8000 – extra tickets to marquee swimming sessions and finals would be made available.
The swimming at Southport’s Optus Aquatic Centre had been one of the early sellouts. But she said last night roughly 600 extra tickets to each of the 12 swimming sessions from April 5 to 10 would be freed up.
They will go on sale from Wednesday.
“We worked hard to free up as many extra seats as possible for one of the most in-demand sports of the 2018 Commonwealth Games,” she said.
“We achieved this by changing the broadcast and scoreboard positions during the (Games) overlay process.”
Additional tickets will go on sale in several sports, with prime athletics sessions including Sally Pearson’s 100m hurdles final on April 13 among those already available on the gc2018.com website.
Most Games events will have extra ticket releases dur- ing the next fortnight but the high number of swimming extras raised eyebrows, with the LNP’s Shadow Games Minister John-Paul Langbroek saying “the uncertainty is not good”.
“I can understand the frustration of many Gold Coast residents and potential visitors who may have been discouraged from coming and missed out.
“They have now seen an inordinate number of laterelease tickets, which may explain why hotel bookings are at 70 per cent,” he said.
“People went ‘Oh, I didn’t get tickets, I won’t go’ and now we have to rely on people wanting to buy tickets late and buy accommodation late when they were being told to book early and make sure of your place.
“The State Government need to do some sort of campaign to promote, promote, promote and guarantee success of the Games,” he said.
Gold Coast Tourism executive director, corporate affairs, Dean Gould said the plans to release more swimming tickets was “a great opportunity”.
“It will be fairly simple to help leverage that. We have a campaign in Brisbane right now – convert your trip to the Games event into an overnight stay,” he said.
“Having extra capacity open up for one of the premier events of the Games gives us another reason to promote the Gold Coast to that drive market.”
About a million Games tickets have been sold and Ms Jones said: “I’ve spoken to organisers of previous Commonwealth Games and it’s normal for all major sporting events to experience a late rush.
“We’ve done a great job to sell more tickets than Melbourne did for the 2006 Games.”
WE WORKED HARD TO FREE UP AS MANY EXTRA SEATS AS POSSIBLE FOR ONE OF THE MOST IN-DEMAND SPORTS COMMONWEALTH GAMES MINISTER KATE JONES