Paris Olympics tickets viewed pricey, ticketing process complicated

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Around four out of five French people believe tickets for the 2024 Paris Olympics are too expensive, a poll showed on Sunday, underlining growing public frustration with organizers over the issue.

A total of 82% of respondents said that tickets for the games were "not accessible in terms of price," according to a survey from the Odoxa polling group for the RTL media group and sports betting firm Winamax.

Around the same proportion of people found the ticketing process to be "complicated", the survey found.

"We're not more expensive than London in 2012," Tony Estanguet, the president of the 2024 Paris organizing committee, told RTL radio on February 22. "It's the same for the football and rugby World Cups. These are the prices."

The official slogan for the Paris event is "Games Wide Open," and former canoeing gold medallist Estanguet promised "a large number of tickets at accessible prices, for all the sports" when the ticketing policy was announced in March last year.

Organizers have pledged a million tickets at 24 euros ($25) and almost half at under 50 euros, but the difficulties in obtaining these cut-price offers appear to be the reason for the public frustration.

Social media has been filled with comments denouncing prices of up to 690 euros for a place at the athletics, as well as a lack of availability for sports such as fencing and climbing that have quickly sold out. 

Around three million tickets were on sale in the first phase, with a further seven million to come in another two rounds.

The second phase will begin in May which will see applicants able to buy single tickets, including for the opening and closing ceremonies.

There will follow a third and final ticket-selling phase at the end of 2023.

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