Foreign ticket sales for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo are set to be launched on or after June 14 – several weeks after they will be available to the public in Japan.
The new ticketing timeline was revealed during a presentation by Tokyo 2020 to delegates at the 38th Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly here today.
Tickets are expected to go on sale to the public in Japan at the end of April to coincide with the “Golden Week” holiday period.
The “Golden Week” features four holidays and this year will take place over a longer period than normal from April 27 to May 6.
The period will include one-off holidays due to the Imperial succession, with Japan’s Emperor Akihito due to be succeeded by his heir Crown Prince Naruhito on May 1.
The decision to start the domestic phase of ticket sales before the international one is unusual as at previous Olympics they have been launched together.
Only Japanese residents will be able to purchase the domestic tickets.
June 14 for the launch of the international ticket sales would be significant because that is the date a new law prohibiting ticket scalping, introduced for Tokyo 2020, officially comes into force.
Under the new law, the penalty for selling tickets illegally could be up to one-year in jail or a fine of ¥1 million (£6,750/$9,000/€7,850), or both.
Tokyo 2020 announced last July that the most expensive tickets for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, will cost ¥300,000 (£2,000/$2,500/€2,200) while half of all tickets will cost ¥8,000 (£55/$70//€60) or less.
The cheapest adult tickets will be ¥2,500 ($22/£17/€19), while a cheaper concessionary rate for children, the elderly and people with disabilities will also be available at ¥2,020 ($18/£14/€15).
The cheapest tickets will be available at sports including softball, football, hockey and rugby, while the most expensive sporting tickets will be available for athletics at ¥130,000 (£890/$1,100/€1,000).
The amount of tickets that will be allocated to each country is due to be communicated to authorised ticket resellers next month. insidethegames
