Strong Ticket Sales Announced Ahead of 2011 Rugby WC

Ticket sales for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand are booming according to Martin Snedden, the man responsible for the events successful delivery with almost two-thirds of the target being reached at this early stage.

In total, 864,000 tickets have been sold since the programme was released earlier in the year which has brought in revenues of NZ$166m (US$122.7m). A target of 1.45 million sales had been set across the 48 matches played in the tournament with around 662,000 having been snapped up already.

RNZ 2011 Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden claimed that key match ticket sales and revenue targets had been met this year with organisers preparing for the arrival of 85,000 international visitors next year.

Snedden stated: “This is a very good position to be in with 267 days to go until kick-off. We still have a lot left to do, but event preparations, coupled with ticket sales to date and strong international visitor projections mean we are getting ourselves in good shape to host the tournament.”

Snedden added: “We are on track to achieve the forecast total ticket sales revenue of $NZ268 million. (That target) was always going to be a big leap into the unknown given that the biggest grossing event previously in New Zealand’s history was the 2005 Lions tour during which the New Zealand Rugby Union grossed NZ$24 million from ticket sales. We’ve now achieved seven times that figure. In the end, we’ll need to do 11 times that amount to hit budget.”