Pyeongchang Winter Games organisers hope to run a "perfect Games" to maintain the spotlight on the achievements of its Olympians instead of other issues.

SOUTH KOREA: Ahn Ji-hyun was among the thousands of spectators who witnessed the arrival of the Olympic flame at Incheon airport on Wednesday (Nov 1).

However, like many South Koreans, the homemaker has yet to buy tickets to watch the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.



With about 100 days to go, local ticket sales have been lukewarm, with only a fraction of the domestically available seats sold.

“I felt that I had to come for the Olympic flame arrival, as I’m not sure when else in my lifetime can I witness a similar event of this magnitude,” said the 44-year-old, who came with her two daughters.

The start of the Winter Olympics torch relay at Incheon Bridge. (Photo: Noor Farhan)

“I haven’t bought tickets yet but I’m very excited about the figure skating competition,” she said. “But we’ll see.”



Low ticket sales is one of the issues organisers hope can be resolved ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Infrastructure issues have been identified as another problem Pyeongchang is keen to avoid, with lessons from Rio 2016 still fresh in their minds. At the last summer games, there was widespread criticism that some venues were not completed on time, and organisation was seen to be lacking.

Having already hosted the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul as well as the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korean organisers hope to run a perfect event - avoiding familiar problems which have affected previous Olympics and Winter Games, as well as new ones unique to Pyeongchang, such as the possible threat from North Korea.

DRIVING UP TICKET SALES

To avoid the potentially embarrassing prospect of beaming images of near-empty venues across the world come the Winter Games, the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Games (POCOG) is looking at ways to boost ticket sales.

Only about 160,000 tickets have been bought domestically, out of more than 1.18 million seats still available. About 180,000 tickets have been bought internationally so far.

One of the ways of rousing interest among South Koreans will be to boost promotional efforts alongside the Olympic Torch relay.

“Our strategy is to use the Olympic torch relay... to bump up the sales. It will definitely create hype and drastically increase ticket sales,” said POCOG Secretary-Geneal Yeo Hyung-koo.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, right, and former South Korean Olympic figure skating champion Yuna Kim, hold the Olympic torch during the Olympic Flame Arrival ceremony at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov 1, 2017. (Photo: AP/ Lee Jin-man)

“That was the case in other international events such as the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju as well.

"Usually, ticket sales start to climb steeply about two months before such major events. Plus, in Korea, fans tend to make last minute ticket purchases.”

With tickets being seen as highly priced for certain popular events such as ski jumping - about US$180 for seated sections and US$90 for standing ones - the organising committee is hoping to appeal more to the upper-middle class.

The 2018 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, pictured here in May 2017. (Photo: AFP/Ed Jones)

“Our sales strategy will also to focus on the regions and people who have more spending power,” said Mr Choi. “As such, we will focus our publicity efforts a lot more on regions like Seoul (among others) and target the age demographic of ages 30 to 40.”

According to media reports, banks, regional authorities and the education ministry have agreed to buy hundreds of thousands of tickets to fill up venues if domestic sales continue to disappoint.

Responding to queries by Channel NewsAsia, the organisers said that they will not be busing in “fake fans” to make up spectator numbers.

“We are focusing on building excitement and continuing to encourage the public to buy their tickets for the Games," said POCOG spokesperson Nancy Park.

"We are hopeful of meeting our sales targets so there are no such plans in place at present."

ENSURING INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS

While ticket sales and potential empty seats might be a problem, the country is also hard at work to ensure that come competition day, athletic achievement is in the spotlight instead of organisational or administrative issues.

Among the glaring issues which affected the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi as well as the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were problems with the athlete’s villages, with some facilities barely usable when the event got underway.

According to project manager for the Olympic and Paralympic Village Facilities Choi Seung-yong, the last minute construction of other villages led to their respective building flaws – an issue the South Koreans are hopeful of avoiding.

“I didn’t get the chance to visit the Sochi and Vancouver Winter Olympics,” he said. “But we did study previous Olympic Games, and learnt about what failed in terms of hardware there.

"In Vancouver, they built a luxurious nine-storey apartment there for their athletes village,” added Mr Choi. “However, there were many tall athletes during the Games while their beds were only 1.76m long.

“We studied all of the other problems and have made sure the same mistakes were not repeated.”

With a longer lead-in time, some of the issues could have been avoided, said Choi. “In the case of Sochi 2014 and even Rio 2016, the construction did not meet its scheduled deadlines and so various problems cropped up along the way for them.

Workers stand between rows of seats at the stadium of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018 opening ceremony, on October 27, 2017 AFP/Sebastien BERGER

“In the end, the quality of construction was not very good as they had to rush their building process. They had problems like water supply and water leakage issues,” he pointed out.

“For us, we did not want to repeat the same mistakes from other Games, and we ensured that we finished construction ahead of schedule. That way, we’d have longer periods to test our building systems and utilities.”

PUTTING ON A GOOD SHOW

Organisers of PyeongChang 2018 are trying to avoid such embarrassing infrastructural problems.

“The perfection of the hardware is important to give a positive image of Korea to the outside world,” said Olympic Village project manager Mr Choi. “If there was to be an issue, then the Olympics will be recorded as an overall case of failure. "

Mr Choi, who also works for Korea Land & Housing Corporation, also known as LH Corp, added: "Come the Olympic Games, it is the athletes who should take center stage, rather than potential systemic failures in the infrastructure of the Games."

In a photo taken on Oct 27, 2017 workers carry materials at the stadium of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018 opening ceremony, in Pyeongchang. (Photo: AFP/ Sebastien Berger)

As for ticket sales, South Korean winter sports athletes that Channel NewsAsia spoke to said that they will play their part to boost national interest, by winning some of the gold medals on offer.

“For now, the excitement is not yet of the same level as the 2002 Football World Cup which we co-hosted,” said local speed skating star Seo Yi-ra, who is the defending world champion in his category.

South Korean speed skating world champion Seo Yi-ra (centre). (Photo: Noor Farhan)

“As we approach the day of the PyeongChang Games, I’m sure more of the (positive) mood will be formed,” added the Asian Games gold medallist.

“As athletes, we will also have to attract more attention from the public by achieving our sporting goals. Of course, the media will have a crucial role in promoting our achievements as well.”

Said bobsled and luge athlete Sung Eur-yung: “For me, I’d like to focus on getting a result that commensurates with my efforts in training.

"Bobsled and luge is getting popular in Korea, so I hope after time goes by, we’d have better results. It’s important to get good results as we’re supported by the government and the fans are supporting us," she added.

SECURITY ISSUES

While the current border tensions with North Korea are a cause for concern for international visitors, many South Koreans Channel NewsAsia spoke to said that they have become used to the threat and sought to assure that the Games will proceed without incident.

Organisers said that security measures and contingency plans are in place to ensure the safety of the Winter Games. “In terms of safety and security, it’s a high priority for the organising committee. It ensures everyone is safe during the games,” said POCOG spokesperson Nancy Park.

“We’re doing what we can to ensure measures are in place. We are also talking with heads of state around the world to tell them that all security measures are being adopted.”

“Our belief is that sports goes beyond politics, as sports is all about peace and harmony. Hopefully this will (lead to) a successful hosting of the Winter Olympics in the Korean peninsula."