The numbers for the Paralympics, which will take place in Pyeongchang from March 9 to 18, were even worse. According to the organizing committee, only 8,902 tickets had been sold as of Oct. 24, with the vast majority purchased as part of group packages. Only 499 individual tickets had been sold.

The sales figures were met with gasps, and revived long-simmering questions about whether the organizing committee had been doing enough to promote the Games; whether recent political turmoil inside the country and the escalation of tensions with North Korea might be suppressing excitement about the event; and whether South Koreans even cared enough about winter sports to travel to an unassuming ski town 80 miles east of Seoul.

“Filling the stadiums is the goal and challenge of every organizing committee,” said Park, the spokeswoman. “We are focused on building up the excitement and continuing to encourage the public to buy their tickets for the Olympic and the Paralympic Winter Games.”

The committee noted that many promotional activities were only now beginning.

On Tuesday in Athens, for example, the Pyeongchang organizers received the Olympic flame in a ceremony that initiated a 100-day countdown to the start of the Games in February. After leaving Greece, the torch was scheduled to travel 2018 kilometers across South Korea, visiting 17 cities and provinces, before the opening ceremony.

“Once the flame lands in South Korea, I hope the Olympic fever will surge with the torch relay,” said Kim Yu-na, the former figure skater who was a member of the South Korean delegation on Tuesday in Athens, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Organizers will hope that fever translates into ticket sales. On Wednesday, the offline sale period will begin in South Korea, making tickets, which until now were limited to the event website, available at designated offices around the country.

The Pyeongchang Games will be held a few hours from Seoul, the country’s largest city. Snow sports, like skiing and biathlon, will be held in the mountains in Pyeongchang. Indoor ice sports, like figure skating and hockey, will be in Gangneung.